E«n: 


The  Aaron  Burr  Conspiracy 


10- 


Volca 


The  ^4aron  Burr 
Conspiracy 


A  History  largely  from  original  and 
hitherto  unused  sources 


By 

WALTER  FLAVIUS  MCCALEB,  A.M.,  Ph.D, 

Fellow  in  the  Texas  State  Historical  Association 

Sometime  Fellow  in  History  in  the 

University  of  Chicago 


NEW  YORK 

DODD,     MEAD    AND     COMPANY 

1903 


Copyright,    1903,  by 
Dodd,      Mead     and     Company 


First  Edition,  published 
April,  1903 

* 


TO 

HERMANN   EDUARD  VON   HOLST 
TEACHER  AND  FRIEND 


Preface 


FOR  a  century  the  conspiracy  of  Aaron  Burr  has 
been  a  puzzling  theme.   Apart  from  the  distin 
guished  figures  that  move  across  its  stage,  the 
nature  of  the  enterprise  from  its  very  extravagance 
must  always  engage  the  attention  of  those  who  care 
to  know  something  of  the  United  States  in  its  Heroic 
Age. 

The  conspiracy  was  of  much  wider  and  deeper  origin 
than  has  been  usually  supposed,  and  the  conditions 
which  gave  rise  to  it,  as  well  as  the  events  with  which 
it  was  vitally  connected,  have  received  scant  treatment 
from  historians.  Social  and  political  upheavals  are  not 
growths  of  a  night,  but  are  the  results  of  the  workings 
of  real  and  definite  causes  which  are  traceable  in  every 
case  and  susceptible  of  some  degree  of  analysis.  Burr's 
project  is  no  exception  to  this  general  law.  And  hap 
pily  we  are  now  far  enough  removed  from  his  time  to 
see  more  clearly  the  perspective  of  events,  and  to 
measure  with  more  certainty  the  motives  and  conduct 
of  men. 

In  the  discussion  of  the  subject  writers  have  in  nearly 
every  case  failed  to  distinguish  between  the  conspiracy 

and  Aaron  Burr — in  other  words,  they  have  attempted 

vii 


viii  PREFACE 


to  explain  it  through  the  character  of  Burr  himself, 
a  procedure  which  is  fundamentally  erroneous.  Burr's 
character  was  apparently  never  more  seriously  involved, 
and  never  reflected  more  disastrously  upon  the  con 
spiracy,  than  in  the  correspondence  of  Merry  and  Yrujo 
• — the  ministers  respectively  of  Great  Britain  and  Spain 
— to  whom  he  ostensibly  disclosed  his  designs.  If  the 
revelations  of  the  ministers  could  be  accepted  at  their 
face  value,  treason  was  in  Burr's  mind,  and  the  separa 
tion  of  the  West  from  the  Union  was  his  plot,  open 
and  avowed.  However,  viewing  the  correspondence 
as  a  whole,  in  conjunction  with  other  facts  which 
cannot  here  be  discussed,  it  appears  certain  that  Burr's 
intrigue  with  Merry  and  Yrujo  was  but  a  consummate 
piece  of  imposture.  In  order  to  secure  funds  for  the 
carrying  out  of  his  expedition  against  Mexico,  Burr 
resorted  to  the  expedient  of  playing  on  the  hatred  of  the 
European  powers  for  the  American  Republic.  Could 
they  be  brought  to  contribute  moneys  to  aid  in  the 
sundering  of  the  States?  Burr  thought  so,  and  to 
secure  the  sum  he  conceived  to  be  necessary  for  his 
purposes  he  never  scrupled  at  discoursing  of  treasons, 
although  at  the  moment  every  step  he  was  taking 
looked  toward  an  invasion  of  the  Spanish  territories. 
No  weight  can  be  placed  upon  Merry's  and  Yrujo's 
letters  as  concerns  the  nature  of  the  conspiracy,  except 
indeed  in  a  negative  sense ;  and  I  say  this  with  all  defer 
ence  to  Mr.  Henry  Adams  and  those  who  have  laid  so 
much  stress  on  these  manuscripts,  maintaining  that  they 


PREFACE  ix 


lay  bare  the  heart  of  the  conspiracy.  The  heart  of  the 
conspiracy,  however,  was  far  removed  from  any  com 
munication  of  Burr's.  The  conspiracy  was  an  affection 
of  society — Burr  was  but  a  member  of  that  society,  an 
agent.  It  follows  that  if  the  nature  of  the  conspiracy 
is  to  be  disclosed,  it  can  only  be  through  an  examination 
into  the  state  of  that  society  whose  social,  political,  and 
traditional  affiliations  gave  rise  to  it.  This  is  basic. 
That  the  ideas  of  Burr,  whatever  they  may  have  been, 
necessarily  betray  the  secret  of  the  movement,  cannot 
be  successfully  maintained.  But  that  the  prevailing 
impression  of  Burr's  character  lent  weight  to  the  impu 
tation  of  treason  cannot  be  doubted;  nor  more  can  it 
be  doubted  that  the  isolation  of  the  West,  together  with 
the  ignorance  of  the  East  concerning  the  pioneers 
who  built  their  log  cabins  in  the  wilderness  beyond  the 
Alleghany  Mountains,  tended  to  distort  extraordinarily 
the  affair  in  the  public  mind.  What  were  the  ideas, 
then,  prevailing  in  the  Western  country?  Was  there 
a  contingent  that  plotted  disunion  ?  Was  there  a  party 
that  clamored  loudly  for  war  against  whatever  power 
insulted  the  Republic?  Of  the  first  there  is  no  trace 
worth  considering;  of  the  latter  there  is  evidence  in 
abundance.  The  spirit  of  the  Westerners  is  proclaimed 
in  no  uncertain  voice,  and  if  its  tone  could  have  been 
mistaken  in  1806,  there  was  no  doubting  its  meaning  in 
1812,  when,  in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  New  England, 
the  Second  War  with  Great  Britain  was  forced. 
And  yet  this  was  done  by  the  very  men  upon  whom 


PREFACE 


Burr  had  counted,  and  the  greatest  leaders  in  that 
struggle  had  been  his  associates.  If  we  look  more 
closely  we  shall  see,  what  has  been  but  too  timidly  sug 
gested,  that  it  was  the  West  and  South  that  took  up  the 
burden  of  the  Republic  when  it  had  well  nigh  wearied 
of  the  load. 

As  for  the  conspiracy,  patriotism  was  but  one  of  its 
elements.  For  him  who  reads  the  secret  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  character,  there  is  epitomized  in  the  movement 
the  whole  course  of  the  race  that  threw  down  the  bul 
warks  of  Rome,  that  terrorized  Europe  in  a  Viking's 
fleet,  that  conquered  the  Western  World,  and  that  looks 
confidently  forward  to  the  time  when  the  struggle  for 
universal  supremacy  shall  test  its  powers.  Expansion 
—conquest — was  the  keynote  of  the  conspiracy ; — it  is 
the  keynote  of  the  history  of  the  race. 

This  narrative  of  the  conspiracy  of  Aaron  Burr  has 
been  in  large  part  written  from  original  and  hitherto 
unused  sources  of  information.  It  must  not  be  thought, 
however,  that  the  work  of  scholars  in  this  field  has 
been  ignored ;  on  the  contrary,  I  have  made  much  use 
of  it,  but  never  intentionally  without  due  credit 
either  in  text  or  notes.  I  have  not  found  it  expedient, 
however,  to  point  out  even  the  most  glaring  anachro 
nisms  in  many  of  the  secondary  narratives  which  treat 
of  the  conspiracy ;  much  less  have  I  attempted  to  indi 
cate  divergences  of  opinion — and  there  are  divergences 
as  wide  as  misdemeanor  is  from  treason. 

In  the  endeavor  to  make  this  study  exhaustive  much 


PREFACE  xi 

time  has  been  expended  in  searching  for  new  data. 
Brief  mention  must  therefore  be  made  of  the  various 
sources  which  have  been  consulted,  and  of  the  materials 
exploited. 

In  1896  documents  relating  to  the  conspiracy  were 
discovered  in  the  Bexar  Archives  at  San  Antonio,  the 
Spanish  capital  of  the  Province  of  Texas.  From 
early  in  the  eighteenth  century,  much  of  the  correspond 
ence  of  the  provincial  Governors  with  the  Captains- 
General  and  Viceroys  of  Mexico  found  lodgment  in  the 
musty  files  of  the  archives  of  the  province.  It  is  need 
less  to  say  that  they  contain  many  manuscripts  which 
are  concerned  with  the  westward  growth  of  the 
United  States  and  with  the  uninterrupted  conflict  which 
was  waged  with  the  retreating  civilization  of  Spain.  The 
views  of  the  officers  of  Carlos  IV.  in  that  quarter  as 
to  the  nature  of  the  conspiracy  are  illuminating.  They 
rightly  classed  it  as  a  manifestation  of  the  restless, 
encroaching  activity  of  the  nation  which  fate  had 
placed  on  their  borders. 

The  archives  of  the  State  of  Texas  contain  materials 
dating  from  the  Spanish  regime  and  are  of  value  on 
more  than  one  doubtful  point. 

The  Viceroyalty  of  Mexico  on  account  of  the  promi 
nent  position  it  held  among  the  Spanish  colonies  became 
the  great  center  for  the  accumulation  of  official  corre 
spondence;  and  the  treasure  of  manuscripts  now  con 
tained  in  the  Archivo  General  de  Mexico,  Mexico  City, 
is  of  inestimable  value  to  the  history  of  the  New 


xii  PREFACE 


World,  and  in  an  almost  equal  measure  to  that  of 
Europe.  Although  we  have  ignored  as  far  as  possible 
the  presence  of  the  Spanish  civilization  in  the  affairs  of 
America,  and  have  remained  blind  to  the  tremendous 
formative  and  directive  influence  which  it  has  exerted 
on  the  course  of  our  national  growth,  it  is  from  this 
collection  that  our  own  history  is  to  be  enriched  and 
brought  nearer  to  truth.  The  Departments  of  Marine, 
War,  and  the  Provinces,  together  with  the  correspond 
ence  which  passed  between  the  Viceroys  of  New  Spain 
and  the  home  Government  deserve  special  mention.  In 
the  latter  collection  are  letters  from  Viceroy  Jose  de 
Iturrigaray  to  Don  Pedro  Cevallos,  then  Minister  of 
State,  which  go  a  long  way  toward  explaining  the  con 
duct  of  General  James  Wilkinson  at  the  crisis  on  the 
Sabine  in  November,  1806.  The  cloudy  transactions 
which  resulted  in  the  lamentable  Neutral  Ground 
Treaty  and  in  the  over- vaunted  defeat  of  Burr  are 
somewhat  cleared  of  the  mist  which  has  enshrouded 
them. 

The  Mississippi  Valley  also  proved  a  fruitful  field 
for  research.  New  Orleans  was  the  focus  for  the  vari 
ous  lines  of  forces  which  mingled  in  the  conspiracy: 
it  was  the  home  of  the  Creoles  who  are  supposed  to 
have  been  at  the  heart  of  the  plot;  it  was  the  place,  if 
we  follow  generally  accepted  conclusions,  specially  de 
signed  by  the  adventurers  for  plunder;  and  it  had  the 
unenviable  distinction  to  be  subjected  for  two  months 
to  the  tyranny  of  General  Wilkinson.  In  its  City  Hall 


PREFACE  ziii 


are  files  of  the  Moniteur  de  la  Louisiane  and  of  the 
Orleans  Gazette,  both  of  which  newspapers  were  pub 
lished  contemporaneously  with  the  conspiracy.  The 
former  was  the  organ  of  the  Creole  population,  the 
latter  represented  the  Americans  proper,  while  both 
contain,  apart  from  valuable  documentary  evidence,  a 
trustworthy  reflection  of  the  public  mind  of  the  time. 
It  is  needless  to  say  that  much  new  light  is  shed  on 
that  dark  chapter  in  the  history  of  the  conspiracy  which 
is  concerned  with  the  attitude  of  the  native  Louisianians 
toward  Burr,  and  with  Wilkinson's  reign  of  terror  in 
the  capital  of  Orleans.  The  official  manuscript  Journal 
of  W.  C.  C.  Claiborne,  the  first  Governor  of  the  Terri 
tory,  preserved  in  the  old  Tulane  Law  Library,  is  of 
exceeding  interest,  containing  as  it  does  much  of  his 
correspondence  with  the  National  Government,  Wilkin 
son,  and  others. 

Colonel  R.  T.  Durrett  of  Louisville  has  in  his  splen 
did  library  a  file  of  the  Palladium,  an  independent 
newspaper  published  at  Frankfort,  Kentucky,  and 
edited  by  William  Hunter.  In  it  are  voiced  the  early 
controversies  that  rent  Kentucky  society,  which  has 
always  been  regarded  as  rife  with  disaffection.  Most 
of  the  sensational  articles  concerning  Burr,  Wilkinson, 
and  the  Spanish  Association,  which  appeared  in  the 
Western  World,  an  incendiary  newspaper  established 
at  Frankfort  in  July,  1806,  were  reprinted  in  the 
Palladium.  Likewise  a  full  account  is  given  of  the 
two  arraignments  of  Burr  in  Kentucky.  Another  im- 


xiv  PREFACE 

portant  source  is  the  Lexington  Gazette — a  file  of  which 
is  preserved  in  the  Lexington  Public  Library — one  of 
the  most  influential  journals  of  the  early  West.  Its 
columns,  like  those  of  the  Palladium,  were  devoted  to 
combating  the  inflammatory  reports  which  appeared 
weekly  in  the  Western  World,  and  to  asserting  the 
patriotism  of  the  frontiersmen. 

The  letters  cited  from  the  Andrew  Jackson  MSS.  are 
of  moment,  for  the  relations  which  subsisted  between 
Jackson  and  Burr  have  been  so  distorted  and  amplified 
that  any  approximation  to  the  truth  is  to  be  welcomed. 
I  am  obliged  to  Messrs.  Woodbury  and  Gist  Blair  for 
transcripts  of  the  original  documents. 

The  Henry  Clay  MSS.  and  the  Breckenridge  Letters 
were  opened  to  my  inspection,  and  it  is  a  pleasure  to 
express  my  gratitude  to  Thomas  Clay,  Esq.,  and  to 
Colonel  W.  C.  P.  Breckenridge  for  their  respective 
services  in  this  connection. 

The  Jefferson  and  Madison  MSS.  have  been  ex 
amined  with  profit.  Moreover,  the  Department  of 
State  at  Washington,  contains  a  notable  volume  entitled 
"Letters  in  Relation  to  Burr's  Conspiracy/'  the  con 
tents  of  which,  so  far  as  I  can  ascertain,  have  never  been 
made  public.  The  letters  are  from  various  sources,  and 
many  of  them  are  extremely  significant,  serving  to 
make  clearer  the  whole  view  of  the  conspiracy,  espe 
cially  the  latter  phase  of  it  centering  in  the  trial  at 
Richmond. 

That  Burr  was  himself  a  mapmaker  is  known,  but 


PREFACE 


xv 


that  maps  exhibiting  the  geography  of  his  Western 
enterprise  were  in  existence  had  hardly  been  suspected. 
There  are,  however,  three  such  maps  in  the  possession 
of  Mrs.  Thomas  C.  Wordin.  They  were  inherited  from 
her  grandfather,  Dr.  John  Cummins,  who  lived  on  the 
Bayou  Pierre  in  Mississippi  Territory  where  Burr's 
expedition  collapsed.  Dr.  Cummins  indorsed  for  Burr 
to  a  considerable  extent,  which  proved  his  attachment ; 
— and  no  doubt  when  the  conspirator  was  under  trial 
in  the  Territory  these  tell-tale  documents  were  turned 
over  to  one  who  could  be  trusted  to  secrete  them.  The 
maps  are  of  preeminent  significance,  illustrating;,  as 
they  undoubtedly  do,  the  outlines  of  Burr's  project.  To 
distinguish,  Map  No.  i  (measuring  thirty-nine  inches 
by  thirty-two)  shows  the  lower  region  of  the  Missis 
sippi  River  with  Natchez,  New  Orleans,  and  the 
Washita  lands,  also  New  Mexico  and  Mexico  .down  to 
Yucatan.  Map  No.  2  is  an  admiralty  chart  ( twenty- three 
inches  by  nineteen)  and  gives  with  astonishing  minute 
ness  a  survey  of  the  Gulf  coast  from  New  Orleans  to 
Campeche.  Islands,  bars,  and  inlets  are  recorded,  and 
soundings  are  given.  The  chart  is  beautifully  executed 
on  paper  bearing  the  watermark  of  1801.  Map  No.  3, 
which  is  here  reproduced,  measures  in  the  original 
forty-five  inches  by  nineteen.  It  exhibits  in  some  of  its 
details  with  startling  correctness  that  section  of  Mexico 
lying  between  Vera  Cruz  on  the  east  an4  Mexico  City 
on  the  west.  The  minutiae  into  which  these  maps  de 
scend  display  a  knowledge  which  could  have  been 


xvi  PREFACE 


obtained  only  from  Spanish  sources;  and  this  opinion 
is  reenforced  by  the  fact  that  the  longitude  in  one  case 
is  reckoned  from  Cadiz.  On  the  whole,  these  docu 
ments,  the  authenticity  of  which  is  indubitable,  form  a 
strong  link  in  the  chain  of  evidence. 

The  correspondence  of  Anthony  Merry,  mentioned 
above,  with  whom  Burr,  while  yet  Vice-President, 
opened  his  intrigue,  has  been  carefully  examined.  I  had 
hoped  also  to  find  in  the  British  Archives  traces  of 
Merry's  correspondence  with  Burr  in  1808,  but  my 
endeavors  and  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Hubert  Hall  of  the 
Public  Record  Office  were  without  result.  Transcripts 
of  Yrujo's  correspondence  with  his  home  Government 
concerning  Burr's  disclosures  to  him  have  been  de 
posited  by  Mr.  Adams  in  the  State  Department 
Archives  at  Washington,  and  students  ought  to  appre 
ciate  such  a  display  of  good  will  and  scholarly  spirit. 

The  reports  of  Merry  and  Yrujo  reveal  an  astonish 
ing  audacity  of  design  on  the  part  of  the  conspirators. 
While  they  failed  in  their  main  purpose  of  obtaining 
needed  moneys  from  King  George  and  Don  Carlos, 
they  succeeded  in  hoodwinking  both  Merry  and  Yrujo. 
Here,  as  indicated  above,  there  arises  between  Mr. 
Adams  and  myself  a  diversity  of  opinion  which  only 
serves  to  illustrate  what  different  conclusions  may  be 
drawn  from  the  same  materials,  taken  in  conjunction 
with  additional  facts.  In  this  connection  it  is  a  pleasure 
to  say  that,  while  I  have  often  had  cause  to  disagree 
with  Mr.  Adams,  he  has  been  of  inestimable  service  to 


PREFACE  xvii 


me  not  only  because  of  his  masterly  method  and  the 
inspiration  derived  from  following  his  work,  but  be 
cause  he  has  said  practically  the  last  word  on  the  con 
spiracy  in  its  classic  form,  which  teaches  that  it  was 
double-natured — treasonable  and  filibustering. 

Among  those  to  whom  I  am  under  obligations  and  to 
whom  I  wish  in  this  place  to  express  my  gratitude  are : 
Senor  Mariscal,  Vice-President  of  the  Republic  of 
Mexico,  and  General  Clayton,  Ambassador  to  Mexico, 
through  whose  cooperation  I  was  granted  the  freest 
access  to  the  Mexican  Archives;  Mr.  William  Beer, 
librarian  of  the  Howard  Memorial  Library  of  New 
Orleans;  Colonel  Reuben  T.  Durrett,  who  opened 
to  me  his  rare  collection  of  Western  Americana; 
Dr.  David  J.  Hill,  Assistant  Secretary  of  State;  the 
Honorable  Joseph  H.  Choate,  Ambassador  to  the  Court 
of  St.  James,  whose  note  to  the  British  Foreign  Office 
so  much  facilitated  my  researches;  Mr.  Villiers  of  the 
Foreign  Office,  and  Mr.  Hubert  Hall  of  the  Public 
Record  Office,  whose  uniform  courtesy  cannot  be  for 
gotten  ;  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Thomas  C.  Wordin  through 
whose  kindness  the  Burr  maps  are  for  the  first  time 
called  to  the  notice  of  the  public. 

I  have  specially  to  acknowledge  the  services  of  Pro 
fessor  George  P.  Garrison,  who  first  encouraged  me 
in  the  prosecution  of  the  work,  and  who  kindly  read 
the  MS.  Mr.  John  P.  Weisenhagen,  Dr.  and  Mrs. 
William  B.  Seeley,  Professor  Francis  W.  Shepardson, 
and  Professor  Frederick  J.  Turner  have  in  more  than 


xviii  PREFACE 


one  way  left  me  indebted  to  them.  My  hearty  thanks 
are  due  to  Professor  J.  Franklin  Jameson  for  his  criti 
cal  reading  of  the  MS.  and  for  his  suggestions.  To 
Dr.  Louis  H.  Gray  and  Mr.  C.  C.  Whinery  I  am  grate 
ful  for  corrections  made  in  the  proof.  I  wish  also  to 
thank  my  publishers  for  their  readiness  to  comply  with 
suggestions  and  for  their  constant  courtesy. 

Lastly,  if  the  book  has  any  merit,  it  is  largely  due 
to  Idealie  Marie  McCaleb,  whose  interest  in  it  sprang 
up  under  peculiar  circumstances,  whose  labors  on  it 
were  many-natured,  and  whose  faith  in  it  has  never 
wavered. 

WALTER  FLAVIUS  MCCALEB. 
WASHINGTON  SQUARE,  March  25,  1903. 


Contents 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.     A  BRIEF  SURVEY  OF  THE  PERIOD  ...       i 

li 

II.     BURR'S  TOUR  OF  THE  WEST  .....     16 

III.  BURR'S    INTRIGUES  ........    41 

IV.  PLANS  AND  PREPARATIONS   .....     72 
V.     THE  CRISIS  ON  THE  FRONTIER  ....  105 

VI.     WILKINSON'S  DUPLICITY  ......  136 

VII.     Two  KENTUCKY  ARRAIGNMENTS  .     .     .  172 

VIII.     WILKINSON  IN  NEW  ORLEANS  .  201 

• 

ja»  i 

IX.  THE  EXPEDITION     ........  242 

X.  BURR'S  TRIAL  IN  MISSISSIPPI    .     .     .     .271 

XL  MEASURES  IN  WASHINGTON     ....  285 

XII.  THE  TRIAL  AT  RICHMOND   .     .     .     .     .310 

XIII.  THE  LAST  YEARS    ........  363 

xix 


The  Aaron  Burr 
Conspiracy 

CHAPTER     I. 

'A  Brief  Survey  of  the  Period 


THE  Conspiracy  of  Aaron  Burr  was  preemi 
nently  a  revolutionary  product,  receiving  its 
inspiration  from  that  unprecedented  period  of 
upheaval  which  began  with  the  Revolution  of  1776,  its 
impelling  force  from  the  character  of  the  American 
pioneer,  its  license  from  the  disturbed  condition  of 
affairs  existing  in  the  New  World.  It  is  therefore  nec 
essary,  in  order  correctly  to  view  the  movement,  to 
devote  a  few  words  to  a  general  survey  of  contempo 
raneous  history,  with  especial  regard  to  the  West  and 
the  Spanish- American  colonies., 

America  was  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,  as  now, 
inseparably  bound  up  with  Europe,  the  thought  and 
feeling  of  the  one  instantly  finding  response  in  the 
other;  so  the  flame  of  war  for  larger  liberty,  kindled 
first  on  the  shores  of  America,  was  destined  to  lose 
itself  in  the  vastness  of  the  general  conflagration.  The 
doctrines  set  forth  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
struck  at  the  root  of  existing  European  institutions — 

i 


2       THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

among  which  were  privileged  orders — and  denied  the 
divine  right  of  kings.  The  phrase  that  all  men  are 
created  equal  lent  overwhelming  impetus  to  the  on 
coming  French  Revolution,  and  made  possible  the  free 
dom  of  the  wretched  colonies  of  Spain  in  the  Western 
World.  The  news  of  the  rising  in  Europe  thrilled  the 
Thirteen  Colonies  which  had  been  recently  at  war  for 
their  rights.  The  tricolor  and  the  cockade  became 
almost  national  emblems,  while  the  mass  of  the  people, 
whom  the  Constitution  had  sought  in  a  measure  to  ex 
clude  from  power,  came  to  feel  their  weight  in  the  affairs 
of  the  nation.  In  the  Spanish- American  provinces,  be 
cause  of  the  strenuous  measures  resorted  to  by  the  au 
thorities,  the  force  of  the  Revolution  was  much  abated ; 
but  in  spite  of  the  Holy  Inquisition  the  seditious  doc 
trines  of  the  French  enthusiasts  were  disseminated 
among  the  natives.1  Presently  there  were  some  who, 
brooding  over  the  condition  of  their  country,  began  to 
direct  stirring  pamphlets  against  the  iniquities  of  the 
Spanish  Government,  and  to  plot  for  its  disruption.2 
Summary  and  bloody  were  the  proceedings  of  the  au 
thorities  against  the  conspirators,  but  nothing  could 
stay  the  spread  of  the  maxims  of  liberty  and  equality 
set  in  motion  by  the  great  Revolution,  although  at  the 
moment  its  crimes  appalled  the  world. 

If  we  examine  into  the  internal  conditions  of  the 
colonial  establishments  of  Spain  we  shall  see  that 
everything  was  ripe  for  disunion  and  rebellion.  A 

^laman's  Historia  de  Mexico,  \.,  127. 

'Restrepo's  Historia  de  la  Revolution  de  Nueva  Granada, 
i-,  55- 


A  BRIEF  SURVEY  OF  THE  PERIOD       3 

writer  in  Bell's  Messenger,  an  influential  journal  of  the 
day,  said  that  the  Spanish  Colonies  supported  the 
parent  as  Anchises  of  old  was  supported  by  his  chil-. 
dren;  but  that  they  had  become  tired  of  the  weight 
and  cared  not  how  soon  the  burden  was  shuffled  off. 
The  condition  of  affairs  in  many  parts  was  indeed 
deplorable,  for  the  system  of  government  which  Spain 
bound  upon  her  colonies  was  antiquated  and  ill  ad- 
justgd^to  the  progress  and  necessities  of  the  time. 
Everywhere  absolutism,  in  Church  and  State,  pressed 
the  superstitious  natives  from  one  stage  of  degrada 
tion  to  a  lower.  Almost  three  centuries  of  Span 
ish  rule  in  the  Americas  passed  before  the  gross 
injustices  in  the  prevailing  order  of  things  appealed  to 
men  with  a  force  not  to  be  repressed.  Once  more  the 
masses  were  arrayed  against  privileged  classes,  and  the 
fury  of  the  Mexicans  with  their  pikes  at  Guanajuato 
was  not  unlike  that  of  the  "sans-culottes"  which  over 
turned  the  Bastille  and  inspired  the  Terror. 

The  United  States,  through  social  and  commercial 
relations,  knew  of  the  insurrections  in  the  Spanish 
Americas  and  watched  the  political  situation  with  keen 
and  lively  interest.  This  was  but  natural,  for  senti- 
mentalism  and  revolutionary  intoxication  completely 
possessed  the  American  mind.  It  was  a  radical  regime 
that  bore  Thomas  Jefferson  in  triumph.  Aristocracy 
was  spurned ;  the  oligarchy  of  our  early  national  period 
was  rudely  cast  off,  while  in  its  place  was  installed 
virile,  confident  democracy.  The  sympathy  of  the 
young  Republic  for  the  French  people  in  their  struggle 
against  the  tyranny  of  Europe  was  unquestioned;  in- 


4       THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

deed,  tyranny  in  any  quarter  excited  them  to  reprobate 
the  existence  of  kings. 

It  was  in  the  West  that  this  madness  reached  its 
height.  The  course  of  political  events  had  told  mightily 
in  molding  the  character  of  the  Westerners.  Their 
nearest  neighbors  were  the  Spaniards  in  Louisiana,  and 
these,  through  repressive  laws  and  encroachments,  had 
lost  no  opportunity  to  make  life  in  the  Mississippi 
Valley  unendurable.  The  States  lying  to  the  east  of 
the  Alleghanies,  the  original  Union,  contributed  much 
in  a  negative  way  to  estrange  the  Western  settlements 
by  neglecting  and  ignoring  their  interests.  When  Spain 
confiscated  property  on  the  Mississippi  the  Westerners 
blazed  with  indignation;  and  yet  Congress  seriously 
considered  a  treaty  which  would  have  closed  the  Mis 
sissippi  to  their  commerce  for  twenty-five  years.  Thus 
outraged,  the  pioneers  expressed  their  feelings  through 
outspoken  petitions  to  the  Assembly  of  Virginia  and  to 
Congress.  Their  rights,  they  declared,  were  considered 
but  subsidies  to  be  traded  for  commercial  concessions 
to  the  East;  they  had  no  market  for  their  corn  and 
pork ;  their  goods  were  appropriated ;  the  Indians  were 
sent  against  them:  they  would  end  the  tyranny  by 
expelling  the  enemy  from  Louisiana ! 

There  followed  from  1787  a  decade  full  of  confu 
sion  and  intrigues.  The  most  conspicuous  movement 
was  known  as  the  Spanish  Association,  or  Conspiracy, 
whose  vital  principle  comprehended  the  incorporation 
of  the  West  with  the  possessions  of  Spain.  This,  how 
ever,  played  an  insignificant  part  in  the  course  of 
events,  for  the  people  instinctively  recoiled  at  the 


A  BRIEF  SURVEY  OF  THE  PERIOD       5 

thought  of  becoming  subject  to  a  nation  and  a  civiliza 
tion  they  loathed.  In  reality  it  has  never  been  shown 
that  the  movement  embraced  more  than  a  few  politi 
cians  and  pensioners  of  Spain,  of  whom  James  Wilkin 
son  was  the  chief,  not  only  in  point  of  service,  but  in 
talents.  The  Spanish  movement  can  not  have  had, 
from  the  nature  of  things,  roots  that  went  deep  in 
society — the  Westerners  were  bound  to  the  States  by 
unseverable  ties  of  blood  and  tradition. 

When  France  rose  against  England  and  Spain, 
she  had  the  sympathies  of  the  Americans,  who  were 
even  ready  to  take  up  arms  in  her  behalf.  Indeed, 
so  tremendous  was  the  force  brought  to  bear  on  the 
Government  that  President  Washington  hardly  with 
stood  it ;  even  the  devotion  of  the  people  to  him  seemed 
for  a  time  irretrievably  lost.  At  such  a  moment 
(1793)  Genet,  the  French  Minister,  landed  in  America. 
Taking  advantage  of  the  tide  of  feeling  he  equipped 
privateers,  harassed  the  Government  and  launched  a 
project  for  the  invasion  of  the  Spanish  Possessions 
from  our  Western  States.  Louisiana  and  the  Floridas 
were  to  be  taken  and,  perhaps,  Mexico.1  During  the 
summer  Genet  pushed  his  Louisiana  expedition,  which 
was  forming  in  the  West  under  the  leadership  of 
George  Rogers  Clark.  Upon  receiving  notice  to  the 
effect  that  two  hundred  and  fifty  men  were  actually 
collected  in  that  quarter,  Thomas  Jefferson,  then  Secre 
tary  of  State,  appealed  to  Governor  Shelby  of  Ken 
tucky  for  information.  The  Governor  admitted  the 

*See  Frederick  J.  Turner,  in  American  Historical  Review, 
July,  1898. 


6       THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

presence  of  French  revolutionists,  and  that  Clark  had 
received  a  commission  to  equip  an  army  which  had  for 
its  object  the  clearing  of  the  Mississippi  of  the  Span 
iards;  but  he  said  that  he  was  powerless  to  interfere, 
inasmuch  as  every  citizen  had  a  right  to  leave  the 
State,  if  he  pleased,  and  to  take  with  him  arms  and 
ammunition. 

This  survey  of  events  is  necessary  to  us  if  we 
are  rightly  to  interpret  the  Aaron  Burr  Conspiracy.  It 
is  only  by  studying  the  character  of  the  people,  the 
conditions  under  which  -they  lived,  and  the  nature  of 
their  environment  that  we  can  comprehend  their  feel 
ings  and  their  actions.  But  why  should  the  West  have 
been  eager  to  wage  a  war  against  a  neighboring  power? 
Ostensibly  it  was  a  movement  concerted  with  France 
against  the  enemies  of  humanity  and  liberty.  There  was 
still  alive  in  the  wilds  of  the  New  World  something  of 
the  sentimentalism  which  had  animated  the  best  period 
of  the  great  Revolution;  and  some  of  it,  indeed,  was 
destined  to  remain  in  the  American  breast  to  find  its 
fruition  in  a  struggle  for  the  freedom  of  Cuba,  which 
had  felt  for  four  centuries  the  leaden  weight  of  medie 
valism.  But  sympathy  for  the  oppressed  is  too  often 
associated  with — indeed,  too  often  conceals — an  in 
stinct  which  rises  anew  with  every  generation  of 
Anglo-Saxons.  In  the  mind  of  the  Westerners,  close- 
linked  with  their  hatred  of  Spain  for  her  insolence  on 
the  one  hand  and  her  oppression  on  the  other,  came 
the  longing  for  her  fabulous  riches,  which  they  meant 
sooner  or  later  to  take  for  themselves. 

When  the  patience  of  the  trans-Alleghany  settlers 


A  BRIEF  SURVEY  OF  THE  PERIOD       7 

had  been  well-nigh  outworn,  Jay's  Treaty,  coupled 
with  the  victories  of  "Mad  Anthony"  Wayne  over  the 
Indians,  brought  relief  to  the  Northwest,  while  the 
treaty  which  Pinckney  negotiated  at  Madrid  (1795) 
pacified  the  South  and  West.  Spain  at  last  recognized 
the  claim  of  the  United  States  to  the  free  navigation  of 
the  Mississippi  and  granted  under  certain  conditions 
the  right  of  depositing  goods  in  New  Orleans.  This 
dropping  of  the  bars  to  commercial  expansion  proved 
a  great  stimulus  to  emigration;  and  by  the  end 
of  the  century  the  Westerners,  numbering  400,000 
souls,  were  scattered  along  the  Great  Lakes,  were 
gazing  across  the  Mississippi,  and  were  crowding  the 
boundary  lines  of  the  Floridas.  Indeed,  no  longer  were 
boundaries  sufficient  to  stay  their  progress — many 
pushed  into  Missouri  and  Louisiana ;  but  for  the  present 
the  goal  toward  which  all  eyes  were  turned  was  the 
possession  of  New  Orleans  and  the  Mississippi. 

"At  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century,"  says 
Roosevelt,1  "the  settlers  on  the  Western  waters  recognized 
in  Spain  their  natural  enemy,  because  she  was  the  power 
which  held  the  South  and  the  west  bank  of  the  Missis 
sippi.  They  would  have  transferred  their  hostility  to 
any  other  power  which  fell  heir  to  her  possessions,  for 
these  possessions  they  were  bound  one  day  to  make 
their  own." 

Such  an  opinion  was  shared  in  Europe.  The  French 
Ambassador,  writing  to  his  home  Government  from 
Madrid,  said:2 — 

Roosevelt's  Winning  of  the  West,  iv.,  254. 
"American  State  Papers,  x.,  185. 


8       THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

"The  Cabinet  of  Madrid  thinks  it  has  the  greatest  in 
terests  not  to  open  the  Mississippi  to  the  Americans,  and 
to  disgust  them  from  making  establishments  on  that  river, 
as  they  would  not  delay  to  possess  themselves  of  the 
commerce  of  New  Orleans  and  Mexico,  whatever  impedi 
ments  should  be  opposed  to  their  progress,  and  that  they 
would  become  neighbors  the  more  dangerous  to  Spain — 
as,  even  in  their  present  weakness,  they  conceive  vast 
projects  for  the  conquest  of  the  western  shore  of  the 
Mississippi." 

With  the  opening  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  the 
grievances  against  Spain  took  a  new  form.  Although 
the  Mississippi  had  been  thrown  open  to  the  commerce 
of  the  Americans  they  were  forbidden  to  enter  the 
Spanish  domain  on  pain  of  arrest  and  imprisonment, 
or  even  death.  The  traders  among  the  Indians  were 
apprehended,  their  goods  confiscated,  and  border 
troubles — for  example  the  Kemper  brothers  episode  in 
West  Florida — assumed  in  several  cases  serious  com 
plications.  But  the  mine  was  laid  on  October  16,  1802, 
when  Juan  Ventura  Morales,  the  Spanish  Intendant  of 
Louisiana,  proclaimed  that  the  right  of  depositing 
^oods  in  New  Orleans  had  been  forfeited  by  the  Ameri 
cans.  The  whole  country  was  aroused ;  war  for  the  vin 
dication  of  rights  was  everywhere  proclaimed ;  and  it  is 
not  surprising  that  strong  measures  were  contemplated 
against  the  arrogant  foreigners.  The  Americans  looked 
upon  the  right  of  deposit  as  one  which  could  not  be 
withdrawn ;  but  the  protests  of  the  Governor  of  Louisi 
ana  and  the  Secretary  of  War  at  Washington  were 
ineffectual.  In  the  end  the  action  was  disavowed  by 
Spain,  but  nothing  could  stay  the  storm  which  had  been 
raised.  Henry  Clay  of  Kentucky  did  not  exaggerate 


A  BRIEF  SURVEY  OF  THE  PERIOD      9 

wken  he  declared  that:  "The  whole  country  was  in 
commotion  and,  .at  the  nod  of  the  Government,  would 
have  fallen  on  Baton  Rouge  and  New  Orleans,  and 
punished  the  treachery  of  the  perfidious  Government."  x 
In  many  quarters  it  was  openly  advocated  that  the 
West  should  appeal  to  arms.  "Coriolanus"  said  in  the 
Morning  Chronicle,  December  27,  1802 :  "Kentucky 
has  the  advantage  of  invasion;  and  she  no  doubt  will 
use  it,  if  unsupported  by  the  Union;  she  moves  alone 
to  the  combat;  she  is  situated  on  the  waters  rapidly 
descending  to  the  point  of  attack ;  she  will  overwhelm 
Orleans  and  West  Florida  with  promptitude  and 
ease."2 

Amidst  this  general  clamor  came  the  startling 
report  of  the  transfer  of  Louisiana  to  Napoleon.  The 
South  joined  the  West  in  declaring  that  France  should 
not  be  allowed  to  establish  herself  in  her  old  possession. 
Nor  was  Jefferson  so  deaf  as  to  mistake  the  ring  of 
•  earnestness  in  the  voice  of  his  constituency — his  strong 
hold  was  in  the  South  and  West.  He  wrote  in  his 
message  to  Congress,  October  17,  1803 :  "Previously, 
however,  to  this  period  we  have  not  been  unaware  of 
the  danger  to  which  our  peace  would  be  perpetually 
exposed,  whilst  so  important  a  key  to  the  command  of 
the  western  country  remained  under  foreign  power." 
At  the  crisis,  he  said  that  if  France  persisted  in  her 
course  to  reoccupy  Louisiana  the  United  States  would, 
of  necessity,  be  forced  to  marry  the  army  and  navy  of 
England.  He  wished  not  for  war;  yet  he  saw  that  it 

Prentice's  Life  of  Henry  Clay,  p.  77. 

Palladium  (Frankfort,  Kentucky),  September  18,  1806. 


10     THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

was  unavoidable  if  Louisiana  was  not  secured  to  the 
Union,  so  he  sought  to  purchase  the  coveted  land. 

In  1762  France  ceded  to  Spain  a  region  of  unknown 
extent  lying  in  the  main  to  the  west  of  the  Mississippi ; 
this  territory  was  known  as  Louisiana,  having  been 
named  in  honor  of  the  great  Louis.  But  now  that 
France  again  led  the  nations  and  was  dominated  by 
such  a  man  as  Bonaparte  the  retrocession  was  sought, 
and  on  October  i,  1800,  with  the  secret  treaty  of  San 
Ildefonso  the  act  was  concluded.  Without  entering  into 
details,  it  is  enough  to  state  that  the  rupture  of  the 
Peace  of  Amiens,  with  its  immediate  consequences, 
caused  Napoleon  to  meet  the  United  States  half  way— 
and  Louisiana  was  sold. 

Hardly  had  the  report  of  its  acquisition  become 
public  when  the  question  as  to  limits  arose.  Indeed, 
the  United  States  commissioners,  Monroe  and  Living 
ston,  were  engaged  over  this  before  the  papers  were 
signed.  France  held  that  the  United  States  was  en 
titled  only  to  the  land  known  as  Louisiana,  which  was 
transferred  to  Spain  in  1762  and  which  was  retroceded  to 
France  by  Spain  in  the  Treaty  of  San  Ildefonso  in  1800. 
The  United  States  was  entitle*!  to  so  much,  but  what 
were  the  boundaries?  How  far 'did  Louisiana  extend  to 
the  east?  To  the  Iberville  or  to  the  Perdido?  And 
was  the  western  limit  marked  by  the  Arroyo  Hondo, 
the  Sabine,  or  the  Rio  Grande? 

The  question  of  limits,  however,  did  not  at  first 
disturb  the,  minds  of  the  Westerners.  The  cession 
created  great  rejoicing  throughout  the  region  directly 
affected ;  meetings  were  held  and  resolutions  passed, 


A  BRIEF  SURVEY  OF  THE  PERIOD     1 1 

while  governors  thought  it  of  enough  importance  to 
mention  in  their  messages.  Governor  Greenup  told  in 
grandiloquent  words  what  it  meant  for  Kentucky  and 
for  the  West,  closing  his  remarks  with  a  peroration  on 
America  as  the  home  of  freedom.1  Quite  different  was 
the  attitude  of  New  England,  where  the  purchase  was 
held  up  to  the  grossest  ridicule.  To  the  men  who 
opened  the  way  for  the  march  of  empire  it  meant 
everything.  No  longer  would  their  flatboats  be  levied 
upon  by  Spain  for  floating  on  the  Father  of  Waters ;  no 
longer  would  they  be  barred  from  the  markets  because 
of  excessive  duties;  no  longer  would  their  material 
growth  be  hampered  by  a  foreign  power ; — there  were 
new  regions  to  occupy,  richer  lands  to  develop  and  un 
bounded  freedom  of  action!  Now  indeed  the  West 
erners  rejoiced  in  the  strong  arm  of  the  Government. 
They  had  more  than  they  had  dared  to  expect,  and  their 
enthusiasm  for  Jefferson  and  the  national  Government, 
to  whom  all  was  attributed,  was  unlimited. 

The  acquisition  of  Louisiana  settled  finally  the 
question  of  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi;  but  the 
boundary  dispute,  complicated  by  the  "French  Spolia 
tion  Claims,"  which  hadifheir  origin  in  French  depre 
dations  on  American  commerce,  promised  no  solution 
short  of  the  sword.  In  the  West,  in  truth,  the  sword 
was  ready  at  any  moment  to  leap  from  the  scabbard. 
If  the  backwoodsman  desired  to  move  into  new  lands  in 
search  of  game  or  to  barter  with  the  natives,  he  resented 
the  law  which  forbade  his  approach.  No-inhabitant  of 
Louisiana,  so  the  royal  order  read,  was  td  be  permitted 

^Palladium,  November  10,  1804. 


12      THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

to  enter  Nueva  Espana,1  for  he  had  but  one  object  in 
view — to  strike  a  blow  at  Spain.  The  primary  purpose 
of  any  expedition  was  to  corrupt  his  Majesty's  allies,  the 
Indians,  or  to  study  the  geography  for  military  pur 
poses.  NemecioSalcedo,  Captain-General  of  the  Internal 
Provinces  of  Mexico,  went  to  such  an  extreme  that  he 
complained  to  the  Viceroy,  in  October,  1805,  of  the 
Lewis  and  Clark  Expedition,  saying  that  it  went  osten 
sibly  to  discover  the  source  of  the  Missouri,  but  really 
I  to  estrange  the  Indians.2  The  Viceroy  of  Mexico  sent 
reinforcements  to  the  Sabine  River  to  protect  the  fron 
tier,  and  agents  among  the  natives  of  Texas.  Presents 
were  distributed  among  them,  for,  as  the  Spaniards 
wrote,  Dr.  Sibley,  the  Indian  agent  of  the  Americans, 
had  tried  to  seduce  them  from  their  allegiance.  Jeffer 
son,  also  in  expectation  of  war,  instructed  Sibley  to 
spare  no  means  to  convince  the  Red  Men  "of  the  justice 
and  liberality  we  are  determined  to  use  towards  them, 
and  to  attach  them  to  us  indissolubly." 

Beside  the  bitter  hatred  of  Spain  there  had  sprung 
into  vigorous  life  in  the  West  a  national  consciousness, 
a  national  mind,  which  resented  the  insults  of  the 
powers  and  which  was  destined  to  preserve  the  Union 
in  the  second  war  with  Great  Britain.  Indeed,  in  a 
sense,  love  for  the  Constitution  meant  detestation  of 
Spain.  The  conflict  with  the  wilderness  and  its  inhabi 
tants,  the  free  air,  and  freedom  from  restrictions,  had 

'Salcedo  to  Cordero,  January  9,  1804;  MSS.  Bexar  Archives. 

'Salcedo  to  Iturrigaray,  October  2,  1805;  MSS.  Bexar 
Archives. 

'Jefferson  to  Dr.  Sibley,  May  27,  1805;  Jefferson's  (Wash 
ington,  ed.)  Works,  iv.,  580. 


A  BRIEF  SURVEY  OF  THE  PERIOD     13 

caused  the  Westerners  to  recoil    at   the    thought    of 
*  Spanish  tyranny  and  had,  under  the  stimulus  of  their 
predilections,  converted  them  unwittingly  into  revolu 
tionists  ;  and  thus  for  years  the  West  harbored  the  most 
r  devoted  adherents  of  the  Constitution  and  the  most 
1    unscrupulous  filibusters.     They  had  a  contempt  for 
Spanish  institutions,  civil  and  religious,  and  were  filled 
with  "painful  solicitude  for  the  unfortunate  millions 
1  she  held  in  bondage."     They  indulged,  said  Foote  in 
his  History  of  Texas,  "a  jealousy  active  and  unre 
mitting  towards  the  Spanish  Government  and  people 
on  account  of  the  power  which  they  possessed  of  dis 
turbing  the  peace  and  retarding  the  growth  of  the 
United    States/'     To    contempt    and    jealousy    were 
^  added  the  sense  of  injustice  done  us  in  the  Napo 
leonic  wars   and   the   question  of  the   settlement  of 
boundaries.     Most  Westerners  thought  West  Florida 
'  and  Texas  ours  by  right  of  purchase  and  were  eager 
to  seize  them.    The  Bishop  of  Nueva  Leon,  who  visited 
Natchitoches  in  January,  1805,  wrote1  to  Viceroy  Itur- 
rigaray  that  "these  Republicans  count  themselves  own 
ers  of  the  territory  to  the  Rio  Grande."     There  were 
many,  too,  who  endorsed  what  Jefferson  suggested  in  a 
letter  to  A.  Stewart  in  1785  concerning  the  disposition 
of  the  Spanish  possessions,  that  it  was  best  for  the 
interests  of  the  great  continent  not  to  press  too  soon 
upon  the  Spaniards;  but  they  believed  the  time  was 
now  come  "to  gain  it  from  them  piece  by  piece." 

It  was  this  the  Spaniards  feared;  they  had  an  in- 

1Bishop  of   Nueva  Leon  to   Iturrigaray,  January  20,   1805; 
MSS.  Mexican  Archives. 


i4     THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY  , 

herent  dread  of  the  approach  of  the  Americans,  who 
were  looked  upon  as  being  by  blood  and  tradition  law 
less  terrorists  and  revolutionists.  Nor  has  the  history 
of  Spain  in  America  during^  the  Nineteenth  Century 
tended,  in  their  view,  to  disprove  the  correctness  of  the 
belief.  One  of  the  reasons  which  brought  Spain  to 
consent  to  the  transfer  of  Louisiana  to  France  was  the 
hope  that  it  would  be  made  a  buffer  between  the  Ameri 
can  and  her  own  possessions.  But  its  acquisition  by  the 
United  States  reopened  the  fears  and  difficulties  of  her 
'neighbor.  Louisiana  became  henceforth,  as  de  Onis, 
'the  noted  minister  to  this  country,  wrote,1  agateway 
for 


On  the  Continent,  so  far  as  our  study  is  concerned, 
the  supremacy  of  French  influence  in  the  determinations 
of  the  Spanish  Court  was  of  paramount  importance. 
It  made  possible  the  peaceful  acquisition  of  Louisiana 
and  restrained  the  United  States  from  going  to  war 
with  Spain  during  the  years  immediately  succeeding; 
for  war  with  Spain  meant  war  with  France  also.  But 
for  this,  Mexico  and  other  Spanish-American  colonies 
would  have  been  earlier  revolutionized.  Napoleon 
desired  to  bring  into  his  world-wide  empire  these 
boundless  possessions  ;  therefore  France  stood  as  a  bar 
rier  between  the  two  disputants.  The  wars  that  raged 
on  the  Continent  had  interest  for  us  only  in  so  far  as 
they  were  waged,  or  were  supposed  to  be  waged,  on 
the  basis  of  humanitarian  principles  —  the  rights  of  the 
people  as  opposed  to  absolutism.  This  was  the  sign 
which  roused  the  American  people  and  which,  in  spite 

'De  Onis's  Cuestion  de  Texas,  p.  3. 


A  BRIEF  SURVEY  OF  THE  PERIOD     1 5 

of-  Napoleon's  unwise  and  unwarranted  attacks  on  our 
commerce,  kept  the  masses  steadfastly  in  sympathy 
with  France  in  her  struggles.  The  case  might  have  been 
'  modified  somewhat  had  England  acted  another  role; 
but  so  uncompromising  and  bitter  was  her  resentment 
and  her  memory  of  the  War  of  the  Revolution  that 
she  disregarded  at  will  our  interests  and  insulted  when 
ever  she  chose  our  national  dignity.  With  Europe  at 
war,  America  struggled  hard  to  preserve  her  neutrality, 
and  in  accomplishing  this  she  became  the  prey  of  both 
France  and  England,  while  suffering  outrage  after  out 
rage  from  a  power  she  longed  to  grind  under  her  heel. 

It  was  at  such  a  juncture  as  this — the  Americas  in 
a  state  of  unrest  and  revolution,  Europe  embroiled  in 
the  deadly  and  terrible  struggles  of  Pitt  and  Napoleon, 
and  the  United  States  threatening  war  with  Spain — 
that  the  first  term  of  Jefferson's  administration  came  to 
an  end,  and  Aaron  Burr,  indicted  for  the  slaying  of 
Hamilton,  eschewed  by  the  Republicans  and  hounded 
by  the  Federalists,  stepped  down  from  the  office  of 
Vice-President.  He  had  already  embarked  in  an  enter 
prise  simple  enough  in  itself,  but  which,  through  the 
tangling  of  his  own  web  and  the  interplay  of  circum 
stances  over  which  he  had  no  control,  was  destined  to 
become  a  puzzle  for  succeeding  generations. 


"v 


CHAPTER    II. 

Burr's  Tour  of  the  West 

* 

A  THE  time  when  he  embarked  in  his  conspir 
acy  Aaron  Burr  was  forty-nine  years  of  age.  He 
owned  a  distinguished  ancestry;  Jonathan 
Edwards,  the  foremost  theologian  of  America,  was 
his  grandfather  on  his  mother's  side,  while  the  Burrs 
were  of  noble  German  blood,  Aaron's  father  being  a 
noted  divine  and  president  of  Princeton  College.  The 
misfortunes  of  Burr  began  early;  his  parents  died, 
leaving  him  and  an  only  sister  at  a  tender  age  to  the 
care  of  relatives.  He  was  carefully  prepared  for  col 
lege  and  at  sixteen  was  graduated  with  distinction 
from  Princeton.  He  was  destined  for  the  ministry,  but 
a  few  months'  study  of  theology  under  Dr.  Bellamy 
seems  to  have  confirmed  him  in  skepticism.  He  deter 
mined  to  take  up  the  law,-  and  began  its  study  under 
i  Tappan  Reeve,  his  brother-in-law.  But  the  news  of 
the  battle  of  Lexington  startled  him  from  this  for  the 
time  being.  Hurrying  to  Boston  Burr  took  his  place 
in  the  ranks,  and  later  joined  Arnold's  expedition  to 
Quebec,  nothing  deterred  by  the  perils  of  snow  and  ice 
and  the  pleadings  of  his  relatives.  He  won  distinction 
in  the  campaign  and  had  the  melancholy  honor  of  bear 
ing  away  the  dead  body  of  General  Montgomery  from 
before  the  snowbound  blockhouse  whence  recoiled  the 
last  serious  assault  on  the  capital  of  Canada.  Burr's 
rise  was  rapid ;  his  integrity,  bravery,  intelligence,  and 

16 


7* 
BURR'S  TOUR  OF  THE  WEST         17 

withal  his  knowledge  of  military  science  recommended 
him  to  his  superiors.  From  an  aide-de-camp  to  General 
Putnam  he  was  soon  elevated  to  the  command  of  a 
regiment,  acquitting  himself  notably  while  in  charge  of 
the  Westchester  lines  above  New  York  City. 

After  four  years  of  unremitting  service,  Burr  re 
signed  from  the  army  and  at  once  bent  his  energies 
to  the  law,  and  within  a  short  space  was  admitted  to 
practice.  He  opened  an  office  in  Albany  and  was  soon 
after  married  to  Theodosia  Prevost,  an  attractive  and 
intellectual  widow.  To  them  was  born  a  daughter, 
Theodosia,  who  was  to  play  a  brilliant  and  tragic  role. 
Burr  resided  at  Albany  until  the  British  were  with 
drawn  from  New  York,  when  he  moved  thither  and 
began  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  earnest,  mount 
ing  rapidly  in  the  esteem  of  the  public  and  dividing 
honors  with  Alexander  Hamilton. 

Burr's  entry  into  politics  seems  to  have  been  more 
by  accident  than  design.  In  the  beginning  he  steered 
clear  of  an  alliance  with  either  of  the  three  great  fami 
lies — the  Clintons,  Livingstons,  and  Schuylers — creat 
ing  for  himself  an  independent  party,  the  nucleus  of 
which  was  a  group  of  enthusiastic  young  men  whom 
Hamilton  denominated  Burr's  myrmidons.  As  yet 
things  went  smoothly  for  Burr  who  was,  in  1789,  after 
having  opposed  the  reelection  of  George  Clinton  to  the 
governorship,  appointed  by  him  Attorney-General  of 
the  State.  In  this  capacity  he  won  recognition  both  as 
an  orator  and  as  an  administrator,  j  Two  years  later,  to 
his  surprise,  so  far  as  we  know,  he  was  elected  to  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States  over  the  head  of  General 


1 8      THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

Schuyler,  Hamilton's  father-in-law.  This  was  the 
;  beginning  of  the  feud  which  closed  with  the  dark, 
lamentable  tragedy  of  Weehawken — the  duel  in  which 
Hamilton  was  slain. 

The  career  of  Burr  in  the  Senate,  where  he  espoused 
the  Republican  cause,  was  eminently  honorable.  He  at 
once  strode  toward  the  leadership  of  the  party,  and  in 
the  Presidential  election  of  1796  received  thirty  elec 
toral  votes.  At  the  end  of  his  term  of  office,  retired  as 
Senator,  he  entered  upon  the  maelstrom  of  New  York 
politics.  New  York  was  in  the  election  of  1800,  as  it 
has  been  so  often  since,  the  pivotal  State,  the  determin 
ing  factor  in  the  national  election.  Through  Burr's 
agency  the  Clintons  and  Livingstons  were  united,  the 
schisms  in  the  ranks  of  the  opposition  were  widened, 
and  the  commonwealth  was  swept  by  the  Republican 
electors.  Burr  was  rightly  credited  with  the  victory, 
and  was  obviously  the  logical  candidate  for  the  Vice- 
Presidency,  for  which  place  he  was  nominated  by  the 
Congressional  caucus  which  named  Jefferson  for  the 
highest  honor .v 

When  the  votes  of  the  Electoral  College  were  polled 
it  was  found  that  Jefferson  and  Burr  had  each  seventy- 
three;  John  Adams  sixty-five;  Pinckney  sixty- four; 
Jay  one.  There  being  a  tie,  the  election  was  accord 
ingly  thrown  into  the  House  of  Representatives,  where 
it  resolved  itself  into  a  struggle  between  the  Federal 
ists  and  the  Republicans.  After  weary  days  of  ballot 
ing  and  much  bitterness  Jefferson  was  made  President, 
Burr  becoming  Vice-President.  Now  indeed  storms 
began  to  gather.  He  came  to  be  regarded  by  the  Gin- 


BURR'S  TOUR  OF  THE  WEST         19 

tons  and  Livingstons  as  an  interloper.  The  party  once  j— 
victorious,  he  was  discovered  to  be  in  the  path  of  several 
aspiring  gentlemen,  who  left  no  means  untouched  for 
his  undoing.  Attacked  viciously  by  Cheetham,  the 
scurrilous  editor  of  the  American  Citizen,  the  organ  of 
De  Witt  Clinton,  he  became  also  an  object  of  suspicion 
and  envy  in  the  eyes  of  Jefferson  and  the  Virginia 
political  clique.  Some  of  his  assailants  were  only  too 
glad  to  drag  from  the  cesspool  of  political  scandals  any 
fragment  which  might  be  available  in  besmirching  his 
character.  He  was  accused  of  this  and  that,  through  all 
of  which  he  maintained  a  resolute  silence.  It  was  a 
characteristic  of  his  never  to  refute  charges  against  his 
name.  Losing  caste  with  Jefferson  and  the  leaders  of 
his  party,  he  stood  for  the  governorship  of  New  York; 
but  he  was  doomed,  and  defeat  led  further — to  anni 
hilation  of  his  hopes  for  political  preferment. 

Alexander  Hamilton,  who  had  pursued  him  with 
relentless  language  and  bitter,  damaging  charges,  was 
challenged  to  a  duel  and  slain  as  a  direct  outcome  of  the 
part  he  had  played  in  the  election.  If  anything  was  now 
lacking  to  make  Burr's  isolation  complete  it  was  his 
stepping  down  from  the  chair  of  the  Senate.  Cast  out  by 
the  Republicans,  he  was  scorned  and  persecuted  by  the 
Federalists.  As  a  party  leader  he  was  dead.  Brilliant,  - 
ambitious,  he  must  now  have  been  in  a  state  of  mind 
bordering  on  despair,  had  he  been  addicted  to  gloom 
and  melancholy.  But  it  is  not  shown  that  Burr  ever 
lamented  or  grieved  over  the  course  of  things,  how 
ever  severely  and  painfully  it  pressed  upon  him.  He 
had  still  his  myrmidons  who  were  as  devoted  to  their  _1 


20     THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

leader  as  they  had  been  under  the  flush  of  his  startling 
successes.  Driven  from  power  in  the  States,  he  turned 
with  enthusiasm  to  a  plan  he  had  early  formed  of  revo 
lutionizing  the  Spanish  colonies.1  Indeed,  before  his 
term  of  office  had  expired,  he  was  busy  evolving  ways 
and  means  which  were  to  contribute  to  its  success.  As 
early  as  August  6,  1804,  he  had  begun  through  an 
intermediary  his  intrigue  with  Anthony  Merry,  British 
Minister  to  the  United  States.2 

A  few  days  after  the  oath  of  office  had  been  admin 
istered  to  his  successor,  George  Clinton,  Burr,  still  ani 
mated  with  the  applause  his  last  words  in  the  Senate 
had  occasioned,  left  Washington  on  a  tour  of  the  West 
— a  preliminary  to  the  inauguration  of  his  project.  He 
reached  Philadelphia  March  21,  1805,  where  he  planned 
to  spend  ten  days  before  continuing  his  journey.  There 
he  met  Merry,  to  whom  he  now  laid  open  his  deceptive 
project,  which  he  hoped  would  wring  from  the  British 
treasury  a  sum  of  money  commensurate  with  his  needs. 
Mr.  Merry,  in  a  cipher  letter  of  March  29th,  gave  Lord 
Harrowby  the  details  :s — 

"Notwithstanding  the  known  profligacy  of  Mr.  Burr's 
character  I  am  encouraged  to  report  to  your  Lordship 
the  substance  of  some  secret  communications  which  he 
has  sought  to  make  to  me  since  he  has  been  out  of  office. 
.  ..  .  Mr.  Burr  (with  whom  I  know  that  the  deputies 
became  very  intimate  during  their  residence  here)  has 

JDavis's  Memoirs  of  Aaron  Burr,  ii.,  376. 

'The  text  of  this  correspondence  of  Merry  was  disallowed 
by  the  British  Foreign  Office. 

'Merry  to  Lord  Harrowby,  March  29,  1805;  MSS.  British 
Archives. 


BURR'S  TOUR  OF  THE  WEST         21 

mentioned  to  me  that  the  inhabitants  of  Louisiana  seeml 
determined  to  render  themselves  independent  of  the 
United  States  and  that  the  execution  of  their  design  is ' 
only  delayed  by  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  previously  an 
assurance  of  protection  and  assistance  from  some  foreign 
power  and  of  concerting  and  connecting  their  independ 
ence  with  that  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Western  parts 
of  the  United  States,  who  must  always  have  a  command 
over  them  by  the  rivers  which  communicate  with  the 
Mississippi.  It  is  clear  that  Mr.  Burr  (although  he  has 
not  as  yet  confided  to  me  the  exact  nature  and  extent  of 
his  plan)  means  to  endeavor  to  be  the  instrument  for 
effecting  such  a  connection.  He  has  told  me  that  the 
inhabitants  of  Louisiana,  notwithstanding  that  they  are 
almost  all  of  French  or  Spanish  origin,  as  well  as  those 
of  the  Western  part  of  the  United  States,  would,  for 
many  obvious  reasons,  prefer  having  the  protection  and 
assistance  of  Great  Britain  to  the  support  of  France ;  but 
that  if  his  Majesty's  government  should  not  think  proper 
to  listen  to  his  overture,  application  will  be  made  to  that 
of  France,  who  will,  he  had  reason  to  know,  be  eager  to 
attend  to  it  in  the  most  effectual  manner,  observing  that 
peace  in  Europe  would  accelerate  me  event  in  question 
by  affording  to  the  French  more  easy  means  of  com 
munication  with  the  continent  of  America,  though,  even 
while  at  war  with  England,  they  might  always  find  those 
of  sending  the  small  force  that  would  be  required  for 
the  purpose  in  question.  He  pointed  out  the  great  com 
mercial  advantage  which  his  Majesty's  dominions  in 
general  would  derive  from  furnishing  almost  exclusively 
(as  they  might  through  Canada  and  New  Orleans)  the 
inhabitants  of  so  extensive  a  territory." 

A  masterly  argument  and  impressively  put.  It  was 
a  luring  bait,  and  Merry  took  it  at  once  for  what  it 
seemed — forwarding  it  to  his  Government  with  as 
much  approbation  as  he  dared  and  with  as  much  expedi 
tion  as  he  could  command.  If  the  commercial  classes 
of  England  were  determined  to  annihilate  American 


22      THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

trade,  if  King  George  was  set  upon  insulting  the 
young  nation  as  part  of  his  daily  routine,  the  idea  of 
dividing  the  house  against  itself  seemed  to  Merry  not 
only  inviting,  but  most  wise  and  diplomatic.  And 
furthermore,  should  England  reject  the  offer,  France 
might  seize  the  occasion  to  deal  the  commercial  and 
political  interests  of  her  enemy  a  telling  blow.  The 
proposition  was  inviting.  Thus  far  the  ex-Vice-Presi- 
dent  had  dealt  only  in  generalities — he  had  discussed 
what  was  the  common  talk  of  the  day  concerning  the 
infidelity  of  Louisiana  and  its  determination  to  revolt. 
When  pressed  for  something  more  tangible,  Burr 
simply  made  excuses,  giving  out  only  as  much  as  he 
.  deemed  necessary  to  secure  "the  protection  and  assur 
ance  required  to  accomplish  the  object."  Merry  con 
tinued  : 

"Mr.  Burr  observed  that  it  would  be  too  dangerous 
and  even  premature  to  disclose  to  me  at  present  the  full 
extent  and  detail  of  the  plan  he  had  formed ;  but  that  he 
was  at  the  same  time  aware  of  the  necessity  of  making 
the  most  ample  and  unreserved  communication  to  his 
Majesty's  government,  in  order  that  they  might  be  fully 
satisfied,  as  well  of  the  good  faith  with  which  he  means 
to  act,  as  of  the  practicability  and  utility  to  them  of  the 
undertaking  which  he  had  in  view  and  that  he  would 
therefore  send  a  confidential  person  to  England  to  make 
those  communications  as  soon  as  he  should  have  received 
through  me,  the  necessary  assurance  of  their  being 
disposed  to  grant  the  protection  and  assurance  required 
to  accomplish  the  object." 

The  hollowness  of  Burr's  intrigue,  the  barefaced- 
ness  of  the  sharp  scheme  to  secure  funds  for  the 
floating  of  his  designs  on  Mexico  by  holding  out  hopes 


BURR'S  TOUR  OF  THE  WEST         23 

to  Merry  which  he  knew  had  not  the  slightest  chance 
of  realization,  did  not  appear  at  the'  moment,  but  could 
not  have  been  more  boldly  proclaimed  than  in  his 
statement  of  the  "protection  and  assurance  required" : 

"In  regard  to  the  military  aid,  he  said,  two'  or  three 
frigates  and  the  same  number  of  smaller  vessels,  to  be 
stationed  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  to  prevent  its 
being  blockaded  by  such  force  as  the  United  States 
could  send,  and  to  keep  open  the  communications  with 
the  sea  would  be  the  whole  that  would  be  wanted;  and 
in  respect  to  money  the  loan  of  about  one  hundred  thou 
sand  pounds  would,  he  conceived,  be  sufficient  for  the 
immediate  purposes  of  the  enterprise,  although  it  was 
impossible  for  him  to  speak  at  present  with  accuracy  as 
to  this  matter.  On  the  latter  allegation  he  observed  that 
any  suspicion  of  his  Majesty's  government  being  con 
cerned  in  the  transaction,  till  after  their  independence 
should  have  been  declared,  which  would  arise  if  remit 
tances  were  made  to  this  country  or  if  bills  were  drawn 
from  hence,  might  be  avoided  by  the  appropriation  to  this 
object  of  a  proportion  of  the  two  hundred  thousand 
pounds  which  the  United  States  have  to  pay  to  his  Maj 
esty  next  July,  and  part  of  which  sum  he  would  devise 
the  means  to  get  into  his  possession  without  its  destina 
tion  being  either  known  or  suspected." 

Already  the  matter  of  money  was  worrying  Burr 
and  his  chief  associates.  This  most  necessary  article 
in  the  inauguration  of  any  project  was  their  first  con 
sideration,  and,  that  it  might  be  obtained,  no  device 
however  questionable  or  nefarious  was  to  be  ignored 
if  success  were  promised — the  end  would  justify  the 
means.  The  matter  of  the  two  or  three  frigates  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Mississippi  was  as  nothing  in  the  scales 
with  a  hundred  thousand  pounds,  which  were  conceived 


24      THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

to  be  sufficient  for  the  "immediate  purposes  of  the 
enterprise." 

After  the  interview  with  Merry,  Burr  quickly  made 
his  preparations  for  his  journey  over  the  mountains  to 
Pittsburg.  He  advised  his  daughter  to  address  him  for 
the  time  being  at  Cincinnati,  in  care  of  John  Smith, 
Senator  from  Ohio,  adding  that  the  object  of  his 
journey,  "not  mere  curiosity  or  pour  passer  le  temps," 
might  take  him  to  New  Orleans  and  perhaps  farther.  It 
is  quite  probable  that  Burr  planned  a  continuation  of 
his  voyage  of  discovery  to  Mexico.  Certain  it  is  that 
he  alarmed  Casa  Yrujo — the  Spanish  Minister  who  was 
proving  such  a  plague  to  Jefferson — before  leaving 
Washington  by  sending  twice  to  him  for  a  passport  to 
Mexico,  "under  the  pretext  that  the  death  of  General 
Hamilton  (whom  he  killed  out  of  spite)  would  not 
permit  his  remaining  in  the  United  States."  Yrujo 
knew  of  Burr's  interviews  with  Merry,  and  therefore 
thought  the  object  of  Burr's  visit  most  suspicious — in 
a  word,  he  believed  him  the  spy  of  England.  He 
reported  that  Burr  had  taken  with  him  mathematical 
instruments  for  the  purpose  of  making  plans,  and  that 
the  officials  of  the  Floridas  had  been  warned  against 
his  manoeuvres.1  But  Yrujo  had  not  penetrated  Burr's 
designs;  little  dreamed  that  his  purpose  was  to  place 
himself  in  touch  with  the  revolutionists  of  Mexico,  who 
were  so  shortly  to  smite  the  power  of  Spain. 

On  April  29,  1805,  Burr  reached  Pittsburg  on  the 
Ohio,  where  General  James  Wilkinson,  who  had  just 
been  appointed  Governor  of  the  newly  organized  Terri- 

'Yrujo  to  Cevallos,  May  24,  1805;  MSS.  Spanish  Archiv^ 


BURR'S  TOUR  OF  THE  WEST        25 

tory  of  Louisiana,  was  to  have  joined  him.  But  Wilkin 
son  had  been  delayed ;  so,  leaving  a  letter  for  him,  Burr 
embarked  upon  the  Ohio  in  an  ark  which  he  had  had 
specially  prepared  for  him.  In  due  time  he  reached 
Marietta,  a  hamlet  of  eighty  houses,  where  he  parted 
company  with  Mathew  Lyon,  member  of  Congress 
from  Tennessee,  whom  he  had  overtaken  en  route  and 
with  whom  it  seems  the  matter  of  Burr's  return  to  Con 
gress  from  that  State  was  discussed.  Putting  off  the 
next  day  he  passed  Parkersburg,  and  two  miles  below 
arrived  at  Blennerhassett's  Island,  which  has  become 
famous  through  its  connection  with  the  conspiracy.  Its 
three  hundred  acres  have  been  much  reduced  by  the 
encroachment  of  the  river,  but  the  narrowing  shores, 
where  Harman  Blennerhassett,  an  Irish  gentleman, 
had  planted  fields  of  hemp  and  had  erected  palatial 
buildings,  are  still  haunted  with  the  memory  of  a 
tragedy.  The  master  was  absent,  but  Mrs.  Blenner 
hassett  invited  the  ex-Vice-President  to  dinner — and 
this  was  the  beginning  of  a  connection  which  was  to 
link  forever  the  names  of  Burr  and  Blennerhassett. 

On  the  eleventh  of  May  Burr  reached  Cincinnati, 
then  a  town  of  fifteen  hundred  inhabitants,  where 
he  became  the  guest  of  Senator  John  Smith,  who  was 
also  a  storekeeper  and  army  contractor.  There  he 
met  Jonathan  Dayton,  a  friend  from  Revolutionary 
times,  whose  term  as  Senator  from  New  Jersey  had 
just  expired.  Burr  spent  a  day  in  the  company  of 
Smith  and  Dayton,  who  were  allied  with  him  in  the 
formulation  of  plans  for  the  project.  Hurrying  down 
the  river  he  next  stopped  at  Louisville,  whence  he  took 


-f  I 


26     THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

horse  to  Frankfort,  which  place  was  reached  May  2Oth. 
Passing  through  Lexington,  the  2Qth  found  him  at 
Nashville,  where  he  was  four  days  the  guest  of  Andrew 
Jackson  and  the  recipient  of  unusual  attentions.  He 
was  no  longer  the  despised  murderer  of  Hamilton,  but 
the  triumphant  duelist;  no  longer  the  insidious,  un 
scrupulous  intriguer,  but  the  general  who  had  led  the 
cohorts  of  Democracy  to  victory;  and,  finally,  he  was 
accepted  as  the  predestined  leader  who  was  to  scourge 
the  Spaniards  from  America.  This  was,  after  all,  the 
mission  of  his  life.  Such  was  Burr's  announcement, 
and  the  news  spread  as  fast  as  such  welcome  tidings 
might  travel.  To  the  Tennesseeans  and  the  frontiers 
men  in  general  it  was  a  battle-call  they  were  only  too 
eager  to  answer;  and  among  the  first  to  respond  was 
Andrew  Jackson,  major-general  of  the  Tennessee 
militia. 

On  June  3d  Burr  was  provided  by  his  host  with  an 
open  boat,  in  which  he  floated  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Cumberland  River,  a  distance  of  two  hundred  and 
thirty  miles,  where  his  ark,  which  had  come  down  the 
Ohio,  was  in  waiting.  The  next  stop  was  made  sixteen 
miles  down  the  Ohio  at  Fort  Massac — a  prominent 
frontier  post  on  the  north  bank  of  the  river  not  many 
miles  from  its  juncture  with  the  Mississippi — where 
General  Wilkinson  had  arrived,  having  descended  the 
river  from  Pittsburg  in  the  wake  of  Burr.  The  General 
had  halted  also  in  Cincinnati,  keeping  company  with 
Smith  and  Dayton,  who  were  represented  as  busy  with 
a  scheme  to  dig  a  canal  around  the  falls  of  the  Ohio. 
He  found  time,  however,  to  write  to  John  Adair,  an 


BURR'S  TOUR  OF  THE  WEST         27 

influential  Kentuckian  soon  to  succeed  John  Brecken- 
ridge  in  the  Senate:  "I  was  to  have  introduced  my  , 
friend  Burr  to  you ;  but  in  this  I  failed  by  accident.  • 
He  understands  your  merits,  and  reckons  on  you.  Pre 
pare  to  visit  me,  and  I  will  tell  you  all.  We  must  have 
a  peep  at  the  unknown  world  beyond  me."  This  letter 
perhaps  affords  a  clue  to  the  topic  discussed  by  the 
General  and  his  friends  during  the  four  days  spent  at 
Massac.  No  doubt  the  whole  situation  was  canvassed : 
the  probability  of  war  with  Spain ;  the  ease  with  which 
the  Floridas  might  be  overrun ;  the  matter  of  the  equip 
ping  of  an  army  which  should  sail  for  Vera  Cruz  to 
light  the  torch  of  insurrection  in  Mexico.  Wilkinson 
afterward  averred  that  the  subjects  of  their  conferences 
were  legitimate.  Whatever  they  were,  the  two  old 
army  friends,  who  had  stood  side  by  side  under  the 
walls  of  Quebec,  parted  with  high  hopes,  Wilkinson 
making  his  way  slowly  to  St.  Louis,  while  Burr  set  out 
in  a  barge  fitted  up  by  the  general  with  sails  and  colors, 
and  manned  by  ten  soldiers  and  a  sergeant.  In  his 
pocket  was  a  letter  to  Daniel  Clark,  a  prominent  mer 
chant  and  influential  citizen  of  New  Orleans : 

"This  will  be  delivered  to  you  by  Colonel  Burr," 
began  the  general's  introductory  note,1  "whose  worth  you 
know  well  how  to  estimate.  If  the  persecutions  of  a 
great  and  honorable  man,  can  give  title  to  generous  atten 
tions,  he  has  claims  to  all  your  civilities,  and  all  your 
services.  You  cannot  oblige  me  more  than  by  such  con 
duct;  and  I  pledge  my  life  to  you,  it  will  not  be  misap 
plied.  To  him  I  refer  you  for  many  things  improper  to 
letter,  and  which  he  will  not  say  to  any  other." 

Wilkinson's  Memoirs,  ii.,  Ap.  Ixxi. 


28      THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

While  Burr,  thus  equipped,  passed  on  toward  New 
Orleans,  Wilkinson  approached  Majors  Bruff  and  Hunt 
of  the  garrison  of  St.  Louis,  Timothy  Kibby,  John 
McKee,  and  others  with  propositions  varying  from  the 
conquest  of  Mexico  to  the  establishment  of  a  military 
empire  in  Louisiana  as  a  consequence  of  anarchy  in  the 
Eastern  States,  growing  out  of  the  rule  of  Democracy. 
Wilkinson  had  already  begun  sowing  the  seeds  which 
\\vere  to  prove  the  destruction  of  Burr.  On  June  24th 
instructions  were  written  for  Lieutenant  Pike,,  who 
went,  according  to  Kibby  and  Adair,  to  explore  the 
way  to  Santa  Fe  and  the  mines  of  Mexico. 

On  June  25,  1805,  Burr  landed  at  New  Orleans.  The 
Orleans  Gazette  chronicled  at  the  time :  "Colonel  Aaron 
Burr,  late  Vice-President  of  the  United  States,  arrived 
here  on  Wednesday  last  in  a  boat  displaying  the  Ameri 
can  ensign,  and  rowed  by  a  detachment  of  soldiers. 
We  understand  he  purposes  returning  to  Kentucky  in 
ten  or  twelve  days."  Burr  was  much  pleased  with  the 
city,  and  wrote  Theodosia  that  he  should  certainly 
settle  there  were  it  not  for  herself  and  her  boy,  who 
controlled  his  fate.  New  Orleans  was  a  place  of  no 
mean  importance;  during  the  course  of  a  year  three 
hundred  sea-going  vessels  and  six  thousand  river  flat- 
boats  arrived  at  its  levees,  and  nine  thousand  people 
busied  themselves  within  its  limits.  The  letter  to  Clark 
was  presented,  and  at  an  early  date  he  gave  a  dinner 
in  Burr's  honor,  which  was  attended  by  the  best  element 
in  the  city.  Other  fetes  followed,  and  Burr  was  every 
where  received  with  the  utmost  cordiality. 


BURR'S  TOUR  OF  THE  WEST        29 

The  society  most  frequented  by  Burr  has  been,  and 
in  all  probability  will  remain,  a  source  of  dispute.1 
There  is  no  conclusive  evidence  to  show  that  Burr  re 
stricted  his  confidences  while  in  New  Orleans  to  any 
individual  or  group  of  individuals.  It  appears  from 
the  light  we  have  that  Burr's  purpose  was  to  observe 
the  drift  of  public  opinion;  to  engage  the  warlike  and 
the  adventurous  in  his  filibustering  enterprise  against  i 
the  Spanish  possessions.  In  this  he  was  most  success 
ful;  the  Mexican  Association,  formed  for  the  avowed  » 
purpose  of  collectingf  "Mexican  data  which  would  be 
useful  for  the  United  States  in  case  of  war  with 
Spain,  was  enlisted  in  his  cause.  Two  of  the  most 
influential  members  of  the  Association  were  John  Wat- 
kins,  Mayor  of  New  Orleans,  and  James  Workman, 
judge  of  the  county  court.  The  former  related  to 
W.  C.  C.  Claiborne,  Governor  of  the  Territory  of 

JHenry  Adams  says  that  Burr  was  "entertained  by  the 
enemies  of  Governor  Claiborne  and  of  the  Spaniards"  (History 
of  the  United  States,  iii.,  223)  ;  that  Wilkinson  told  the  story,  on 
the  evidence  of  Lieutenant  Spence,  that  "Burr  on  his  arrival  in 
Louisiana  became  acquainted  with  the  so-called  Mexican  Asso-  » 
ciation — a  body  of  some  three  hundred  men,  leagued  together  j 
for  the  emancipation  of  Mexico  from  the  Spanish  rule,  .  .  . 
and  under  his  influence  the  scheme  of  disunion  was  made  a  part 
of  the  Mexican  plan."  A  moment  later  we  are  assured  by  the 
same  eminent  authority  that  Burr  did  not  conceal  his  secrets 
from  his  "principal  allies — the  Creoles  of  New  Orleans  "  (iii., 
227).  In  other  words,  Mr.  Adams  contends — for  the  Mexican 
Association  was  composed  of  Americans — that  practically  the 
whole  city,  rent  with  factions,  was  in  the  secret  which  embraced 
the  idea  of  a  separation  of  the  States  and  the  conquest  of  Mexico, 
and  yet  all  was  harmonious. 

Another  writer  of  repute,  Charles  Gayarre ,  has  averred 
(History  of  Louisiana,  iii.,  81)  that  Burr  fell  in  with  the  Span 
iards  and  gave  them  some  intimation  of  his  business.  Gayarre 
never  gave  up  this  idea,  for  he  interpreted  the  movement  of  the 
Spanish  troops  toward  Baton  Rouge  at  the  moment  of  the  crisis 
of  the  conspiracy  as  a  diversion  in  Burr's  behali 

M-  - 


30     THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

Orleans,  at  the  crisis  the  history  of  the  organization, 
repudiating  in  the  most  emphatic  terms  the  charge  of 
Wilkinson  that  its  members  were  rabid  disunionists. 
Watkins  proved  what  he  averred ;  even  Claiborne  when 
the  storm  had  subsided,  though  he  removed  Watkins 
from  the  mayoralty,  was  obliged  to  confess  to  Madison, 
"I  believe  he  meditated  nothing  against  the  American 
Government — and  that  he  sincerely  loves  his  country. 
I  however  am  of  opinion  that  his  zeal  for  the  libera 
tion  of  Mexico  led  him  into  some  imprudences."1 
Workman's  interest  in  the  cause  of  the  Spanish  colonies 
was  not  extinguished  by  the  collapse  of  Burr's  scheme, 
Erick  Bollman,  who  was  one  of  the  prime  movers  in  the 
Conspiracy,  being  able  to  write  in  1808,  "Judge  Work 
man,  now  practising  as  a  lawyer,  is  the  only  man  of 
energy,  which  is  constantly  excited  in  the  old  cause. 
His  looks  are  steadfastly  turned  to  the  South."2 

Plans  for  the  "liberation  of  Mexico"  were  formed 
beyond  doubt:.  Emissaries  were  to  be  employed.  The 

^  Bishop  of  New  Orleans,  who  had  traveled  in  Mexico 
and  knew  the  discontent  of  the  masses  and  the  clergy, 
was  in  the  secret,  and  designated  three  Jesuits  to  act  as 
agents  for  the  revolutionists.  Madame  Xavier  Tarjcon, 
superior  of  the  convent  of  Ursuline  nuns  at  New  Or- 

I  leans,  v  ilso  acquainted  with  the  plot.3  The  para 
mount  idea  of  the  time  was  the  revolutionizing  of  the 
Spanish  territories — and  Burr  announced  here,  as  he 

'Claiborne  to  Madison,  March  n,  1807;  Letters  in  Relation 
to  Burrs  Conspiracy,  MSS.  State  Department  Archives. 

2Bollman  to  Burr,  August  u,  1808;  Private  Journal  of  Aaron 
Burr  i.,  29. 

'Davis's  Memoirs  of  Aaron  Burr,  ii.,  382. 


BURR'S  TOUR  OF  THE  WEST        31 

had  done  in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  that  his  life 
should  be  devoted  to  the  overthrowing  of  the  Spanish 
power  in  America. 

Clark  probably  knew  as  much  as  any  one  of  what 
was  in  contemplation,  and  his  attitude  of  friendliness 
toward  Burr  at  a  later  period,  when  he  had  every 
motive  to  pursue  a  different  course,  with  his  outspoken 
condemnation  of  Wilkinson  in  his  Proofs*  shows 
that  one  of  his  attributes  was  love  of  justice.  Gayarre 
more  than  established  the  correctness  of  the  Proofs, 
which  exposed  Wilkinson's  corrupt  dealings  with  the 
Spaniards ;  and  if  Clark  never  fully  divulged  his  knowl 
edge  of  Burr's  project,  he  betrayed  the  secret  of  it  when 
he  declared  on  the  floor  of  Congress,  at  the  moment 
when  expectation  was  at  its  highest  tension,  that  if 
treason  were  contemplated  no  Louisianian  would  be 
found  concerned  in  it !  Clark  himself  entertained  revo 
lutionary  ideas,  but  they  did  not  involve  the  sundering 
of  the  States.  John  Graham,  Secretary  of  the  Territory 
of  Orleans,  said  that  Clark  had  given  him  some  papers 
which  told,  among  other  things,  of  the  strength  of  the 
Mexican  forces  and  garrisoned  towns  between  Vera 
Cruz  and  the  City  of  Mexico,  and  of  the  naval  strength 
of  Vera  Cruz.  It  was  Clark's  opinion  that  Mexico 
could  be  easily  invaded,  but  he  would  have  nothing  to 
do  with  such  an  undertaking  if  headed  by  the  Govern 
ment.  Permission  was  all  that  was  wanted — an  empire  i. 
could  then  be  established.2  This  information  had  been 


Clark's  Proofs  of  the  Corruption  of  General  James  Wilkin 
son. 

'Clark's  Proofs,  p.  103. 


32     THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

acquired  while  on  trading  voyages  to  the  chief  seaport 
of  Mexico.  Of  these  voyages  there  are  frequent  ac 
counts  in  the  Spanish  official  reports,1  for  Clark  was 
wont  to  recite  to  Government  the  news  of  Europe  and 
America.  But  an  end  came  to  this  when  the  Spaniards 
learned  that  he  had  been  chosen  a  Delegate  to  Congress.2 
Burr  no  doubt  profited  by  what  Clark  had  learned  of  the 
conditions  of  society  in  Mexico,  and  the  merchant  was 
^observer  enough  to  note  that  a  revolution  was  imminent. 
That  he  agreed  to  join  with  Burr  there  is  little  doubt ; 
but  he,  like  many  others,  wished  to  see  the  movement 
triumphant  before  sharing  its  fortunes.  Certain  it  is 
Clark  never  set  out  to  play  a  heavy  part  in  the  plot, 
which,  as  he  understood  it,  was  wholly  against  Mexico. 
It  was  a  matter  for  jest  with  him  when  he  heard  on 
the  streets  of  New  Orleans  the  extravagant  designs 
attributed  to  his  new  acquaintance,  whose  address  even 
was  unknown  to  him.  September  7th,  a  few  weeks 
after  the  departure  of  Burr  from  New  Orleans  and 
almost  at  the  hour  of  his  arrival  in  St.  Louis  on  his 
visit  to  Wilkinson,  Clark  wrote  to  the  General  :s — 

"Many  absurd  and  wild  reports  are  circulated  here, 
and  have  reached  the  ears  of  the  officers  of  the  late 
Spanish  Government,  respecting  our  ex-Vice-President. 
.  .  .  You  are  spoken  of  as  his  right-hand  man.  Entre 
nous,  I  believe  that  Minor  of  Natchez  has  had  a  great 
part  in  this  business,  in  order  to  make  himself  of  impor 
tance — he  is  in  the  pay  of  Spain  and  wishes  to  convince 

'Clark  to  Pedro  de  Alamo,  September  26,  1805;  MSS.  Mex 
ican  Archives. 

*Iturrigaray  to  Soler,  August  27,  1806;  MSS.  Mexican 
Archives. 

'Wilkinson's  Memoirs,  ii.,  Ap.  xxxiii. 


BURR'S  TOUR  OF  THE  WEST        33 

them  that  he  is  much  their  friend.  .  .  .  What  in  the 
name  of  Heaven  could  give  rise  to  these  extravagances? 
Were  I  sufficiently  intimate  with  Mr.  Burr,  and  knew 
where  to  direct  a  line  to  him,  I  should  take  the  liberty  of 
writing  to  him.  .  .  .  The  tale  is  a  horrid  one,  if  well 
told.  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  the  State  of  Ohio,  with  part 
of  Georgia  and  part  of  Carolina,  are  to  be  bribed  with 
the  plunder  of  the  Spanish  countries  west  of  us  to  sepa 
rate  from  the  Union;  this  is  but  a  part  of  the  business. 
Heaven,  what  wonderful  doings  there  will  be  in  those 
days !  .  .  .  Amuse  Mr.  Burr  with  an  account  of  it." 

Burr  was  pleased  with  the  aspect  of  affairs  in 
Louisiana  and  wrote  his  daughter  that  he  had  promised 
to  return  the  next  fall.  Having  spent  a  fortnight  in 
New  Orleans,  where  he  had  attached  to  his  interests  the 
Mexican  Association,  the  adventurers,  and  the  revolu- 
tiofcary  element,  Burr,  mounted  on  horses  provided  by 
Clark,  set  out  on  his  return  overland.  His  first  stop 
was  at  Natchez,  where  a  week  was  spent  among  those 
who  were  eager  to  engage  in  a  war  with  Spain, 
to  punish  the  so-called  invaders  of  the  country.  From 
Natchez  he  proceeded  to  Nashville,  hazarding  four 
hundred  and  fifty  miles  of  wilderness.  On  August  6th 
he  was  again  domiciled  with  Jackson,  who  was,  as 
Burr  described  him  at  the  time,  a  man  of  intelligence 
and  a  prompt,  frank,  ardent  soul.  A  public  dinner 
was  now  spread  in  Burr's  honor  at  the  capital,  where 
toasts  were  drunk  of  a  nature  to  leave  no  doubt  as 
to  the  sympathies  of  the  audience.  Then  he  passed 
to  Lexington,  where  he  was  the  recipient  of  hospi 
talities  such  as  only  Southerners  of  that  day  knew 
how  to  dispense.  The  last  day  of  August  Burr  was 
riding  the  twenty-two  miles  from  Lexington  to  Frank- 


34     THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

fort,  where  he  was  once  more  quartered  with  John 
Brown,  a  distinguished  citizen  who  had  for  years  been 
a  prominent  figure  in  Kentucky  politics.  On  September 
2d  Burr  was  in  Louisville;  ten  days  later  he  reached 
St.  Louis  on  a  visit  to  General  Wilkinson,  who  had 
already  assumed  the  reins  as  governor.  Burr  now 
learned  that  Pike  was  exploring  the  best  route  to  Santa 
Fe;  and  Wilkinson  heard  what  was  not  news  to  him, 
that  the  West  and  South  were  eager  for  a  fight  with 
Spain,  that  an  army  could  be  raised  in  a  few  days  for 
the  conquest  of  Mexico.  To  all  appearances  there  was 
,  no  break  in  their  friendship,  nor  any  abatement  of 
-  enthusiasm.  In  truth  it  could  have  been  no  object  of 
minor  importance  which  called  Burr  at  that  season  so 
far  out  of  his  way.  Wilkinson  attempted  to  depreciate 
this  visit  by  repeating  under  oath  at  the  trial  at  Rich 
mond  the  following  conversation:1 — 

"Mr.  Burr  speaking  of  the  imbecility  of  the  Govern 
ment  said  it  would  molder  to  pieces,  die  a  natural  death, 
or  words  to  that  effect,  adding  that  the  people  of  the 
Western  country  were  ready  to  revolt.  To  this  I  recollect 
replying  that,  if  he  had  not  profited  more  by  his  journey 
in  other  respects,  he  had  better  have  remained  at  Wash 
ington  or  Philadelphia;  for  surely,  said  I,  my  friend,  no 
person  was  ever  more  mistaken !  The  Western  people 
disaffected  to  the  Government!  They  are  bigoted  to 
Jefferson  and  democracy." 

What  was  equally  to  the  point,  the  General  claimed 
to  have  written,  upon  the  departure  of  the  ex-Vice- 
President,  a  letter  denouncing  him  to  the  Secretary  of 
the  Navy ;  Wilkinson  thought  its  text  about  as  follows : 

1 Annals  of  Congress,  1807-08,  p.  611. 


BURR'S  TOUR  OF  THE  WEST         35 

"Burr  is  about  something,  but  whether  internal  or  ex-' 
ternal  I  cannot  discover.  I  think  you  should  keep  an 
eye  on  him." 

In  spite  of  the  paucity  of  the  testimony,  ffildre-th-1 
and  others  have  tacitly  credited  Wilkinson  with  having, 
at  so  early  a  date,  given  notice  of  the  approaching  dan 
ger.  There  are,  however,  no  available  data  to  show  that 
his  interest  in  the  career  of  Burr  had  flagged,  for  we 
find  him  carefully  fostering  the  deception  that  Burr 
sought  to  be  returned  to  Congress.  When  Burr  left 
St.  Louis  for  Vincennes,  capital  of  Indiana  Territory, 
which  place  he  reached  September  23d,  he  carried  with 
him  this  letter  from  Wilkinson  to  Governor  William 
Henry  Harrison : 

"I  will  demand  from  your  friendship  a  boon  in  its  / 
influence  co-extensive  with  the  Union;  a  boon,  perhaps, 
on  which  the  Union  may  much  depend ;  a  boon  which 
may  serve  me,  may  serve  you,  and  disserve  neither.  .  .  . 
-If  you  ask,  What  is  this  important  boon  which  I  so 
earnestly  crave?  I  will  say  to  you,  return  the  bearer  to 
the  councils  of  our  country,  where  his  talents  and  abilities 
are  all-important  at  the  present  moment." 

From  Vincennes,  at  the  time  he  set  out  for  Wash 
ington,  Burr  wrote  Wilkinson  that  the  matter  of  which 
he  had  written  had  not  been  mentioned  in  his  conversa 
tion.  But  whether  the  General  had  or  had  not  discoun 
tenanced  Burr's  projects,  there  were  not  wanting  those  -j 
who  looked  askance  at  his  Western  meanderings.  Be 
fore  he  had  begun  his  homeward  journey  the  news- 

^History  of  the  United  States,  v.,  599. 
2Parton's  Life  of  Burr,  ii.,  50. 


36     THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

papers  attributed  to  him  as  many  plots  as  the  ingenuity 
of  the  sensation-monger  could  conjure  up. 

"We  have  been  frequently  asked,"  explained  the  editor 
of  the  Lexington  Gazette,  "why  we  have  paid  such  atten 
tion  to  the  movements  of  Mr.  Burr  since  his  arrival  in 
the  Western  country.  The  latter  part  of  his  political 
\  career,  fraught,  perhaps,  with  a  degree  of  duplicity  which 
"*  .  !  can  never  be  satisfactorily  defended,  has  made  him  an 
object  of  attention  wherever  he  has  traveled.  His  talents 
for  intrigue  are  considered  as  unrivalled  in  America,  and 
his  disposition  doubted  by  few.  The  subsequent  queries 
have  lately  appeared  in  the  Gazette  of  the  United  States. 
Whether  any  circumstances  have  come  to  the  knowledge 
of  the  writer  which  would  justify  such  a  publication,  we 
are  uninformed.  Without  giving  an  opinion  as  to  his 
views  in  this  country,  we  publish  the  queries,  ...  at 
the  same  time  believing  that  if  he  calculated  on  with 
drawing  the  affections  of  the  people  of  the  Western 
States  from  their  Government,  he  will  find  himself 
deceived,  if  he  has  not  already  made  the  discovery."  * 

Here  are  the  queries  alluded  to : 

"How  long  will  it  be  before  we  shall  hear  of  Colonel 
Burr  being  at  the  head  of  a  revolutionary  party  on  the 
Western  waters?  Is  it  a  fact  that  Colonel  Burr  has 
formed  a  plan  to  engage  the  adventurous  and  enterprising 
young  men  from  the  Atlantic  States  to  Louisiana  ?  Is  it 
one  of  the  inducements  that  an  immediate  convention 
will  be  called  from  the  States  bordering  on  the  Ohio  and 
Mississippi  to  form  a  separate  government  ?  Is  it  another 
that  all  the  public  lands  are  to  be  seized  and  partitioned 
among  these  States,  except  what  is  reserved  for  the  war 
like  friends  and  followers  of  Burr  in  the  revolution?  Is 
it  part  of  the  plan  for  the  new  States  to  grant  the  new 
lands  in  bounties  to  entice  inhabitants  from  the  Atlantic 
States?  How  soon  will  the  forts  and  magazines  and  all 


4 


1Palladium,  September  7,  1805. 


BURR'S  TOUR  OF  THE  WEST        37 

the  military  posts  at  New  Orleans  and  on  the  Mississippi 
be  in  the  hands  of  Colonel  Burr's  revolutionary  party? 
How  soon  will  Colonel  Burr  engage  in  the  reduction  of 
Mexico  by  granting  liberty  to  its  inhabitants,  and  seizing 
on  its  treasures,  aided  by  British  ships  and  forces  ?  What 
difficulty  can  there  be  in  completing  a  revolution  in  one 
summer,  among  the  Western  States',  when  they  will  gain 
the  Congress  lands,  will  throw  off  the  public  debt,  will 
seize  their  own  revenues,  and  enjoy  the  plunder  of 
Spain?" 

To  say  the  least,  this  was  a  remarkable  set  of  inter 
rogations;  and  what  was  equally  remarkable  was  the 
avidity  with  which  it  was  seized  on  by  the  press  and 
circulated  with  added  comment  from  border  to  border 
of  the  country.  It  was  a  sensational  story,  and  whether 
it  were  the  product  of  some  quill-driver  of  a  partisan 
sheet,  or  the  naked  fact,  the  readers  of  the  "yellow" 
journals  of  that  day  had  no  means  of  ascertaining. 
They  rarely  questioned ;  in  the  absence  of  the  telegraph 
it  was  no  easy  task  to  verify  a  report,  and  such  writers 
as  John  Wood  and  Duane,  Cheetham  and  Callender 
never  pothered  over  uncertainties.  In  the  West  at  this 
time  the  papers  were  a  unit  in  denouncing  the  unfair 
and  altogether  slanderous  insinuations  that  the  fron 
tiersmen  were  eager  for  lawless  measures.  But  in  spite 
of  expressions  of  affection  for  the  Constitution  and 
for  the  Union,  the  impression  spread  abroad  that  the  *f 
West  was  once  more  on  the  verge  of  slipping  under 
the  Spanish  yoke;  or,  indeed,  of  enlisting  under  the 
banner  of  an  adventurer.  In  this  way  the  country  was ' 
gradually  prepared  for  the  events  of  the  ensuing  year. 
Nor  were  these  whispers  of  suspicion  to  be  stayed  by 
the  boundaries  of  the  Republic.  Before  the  end  of 


3 8     THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

July — a  month  before  Clark  reported  the  rumors  from 
New  Orleans,  weeks  before  the  newspapers  took  up  the 
alarm — the  news  had  reached  our  warlike  neighbors 
in  Texas  that  Aaron  Burr,  ex-Vice-President,  had  come 
to  New  Orleans  under  military  escort,  and  that  it  was 
reported  he  meditated  some  extraordinary  enterprise, 
the  exact  nature  of  which  was  still  in  doubt.1  Like 
wise  the  stirring  news  spread  eastward.  On  August  4th, 
while  Burr  was  emerging  from  the  wilderness  to  the 
south  of  Nashville,  Merry  hastened  to  communicate  to 
Lord  Mulgrave  that  the  scheme  had  been  betrayed  or 
had  been  ruined  through  publicity : 


"Notwithstanding  that  the  confidential  person,  whom, 
as  I  had  the  honor  to  mention  to  your  lordship  in  my 
despatch  No.  22  [March  29th]  Mr.  Burr  had  said  that 
he  intended  to  send  to  me,  has  not  as  yet  appeared,  I  learn 
that  that  gentleman  has  commenced  his  plan  in  the  West 
ern  country,  and  apparently  with  much  success,  although 
it  would  seem,  that  he  or  some  of  his  agents  have  either 
been  indiscreet  in  their  communications,  or  have  been 
betrayed  by  some  person,  in  whom  they  considered  that 
they  had  reason  to  confide,  for  the  object  of  his  journey 
has  now  begun  to  be  noticed  in  the  public  prints,  where 
it  is  said  that  a  convention  is  to  be  called  immediately 
from  the  States  bordering  on  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi 
for  the  purpose  of  forming  a  separate  government.  It 
is,  however,  possible  that  the  business  may  be  so  far 
advanced  as,  from  the  nature  of  it,  to  render  any  further 
secrecy  impossible.  The  best  accounts  of  Mr.  Burr  were 
from  St.  Louis,  from  whence  he  had  proceeded  to  New 
Orleans,  and  it  is  observed  that  he  had  been  received 
everywhere  with  the  most  marked  attention."  ; 

A  year  had  elapsed  since  Merry  had  made  his  first 

'Valle  to  Elguezabal,  July  30,  1805 ;  MSS.  Bexar  Archives. 
2Merry  to  Mulgrave,  August  4,  1805 ;  MSS.  British  Archives. 


BURR'S  TOUR  OF  THE  WEST         39 

report  to  the  Foreign  Office  of  Burr's  project ;  months 
had  passed  since  the  notable  letter  of  March  2Qth  had 
been  dispatched — and  yet  the  home  Government  was 
silent.  The  Minister  should  have  taken  the  hint.  But  - 
far  from  that,  his  enthusiasm  was  unbounded  when  he 
learned  through  current  rumor  that  the  undertaking 
was  actually  begun.  Here  was  a  triumph  to  boast  of, 
for  had  he  not  rendered  an  early  account  of  it  to  the 
Foreign  Office?  This  time,  however,  his  information 
had  come  through  the  medium  of  the  press,  and  Yrujo 
read  the  same  paragraphs  and  inclosed  them  to 
Cevallos,  the  Spanish  Minister  of  State,  with  a  letter 
dated  August  5th,  one  day  after  Merry  had  penned 
his  account.  Referring  to  Burr's  secret  interviews 
with  the  English  Minister,  his  demand  for  a  passport 
to  Mexico,  the  draughting  instruments,  he  registered  r 
again  his  suspicions,  adding,  however,  that  the  West 
at  the  moment  was  unripe  for  Burr's  designs,  and 
scoffing  at  the  idea  of  an  attack  on  Mexico.  In  con 
clusion,  Yrujo  showed  in  a  paragraph  that  he  had  al 
most  fathomed  the  business  of  Burr : 

"The  supposed  expedition  against  Mexico  is  ridic 
ulous  and  chimerical  in  the  present  state  of  things ;  but  I 
am  not  unaware  that  Burr,  in  order  to  get  moneys  from 
the  English  Minister  or  from  England,  has  made  to  him 
some  such  proposition,  in  which  he  is  to  play  the  leading  -f 
role."1 

Yrujo  little  knew  that  his  turn  to  be  deceived  by 
the  conspirators  in  their  casting  about  for  funds  was 
close  at  hand.  They  appeared  to  the  Spanish  Minister 

'Yrujo  to  Cevallos,  August  5,  1805;  MSS.  Spanish  Archives. 


40    THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

masked,  as  Merry  had  seen  them,  though  the  make-up 
had  been  varied  with  the  necessities  of  the  case. 

Thus,  before  the  summer  of  1805  had  expired  the 
country  from  North  to  South  was  vibrant  with  tales 
of  a  plot,  or  rather  of  as  many  plots  as  ingenuity  could 
contrive — nothing  was  tangible.  Toward  the  middle 
of  November,  1805,  Burr  had  reached  Washington 
without  mishap  from  his  Western  tour,  and  went  at 
once  to  the  British  Legation— Dayton  who  had  been  ill 
in  the  West  had  only  two  days  prior  made  a  report  to 
,  Merry — to  unroll  his  budget  of  falsehoods  and  to  learn 
the  fate  of  his  propositions.  Finding  no  reply  he 
straightway  widened  and  deepened  his  schemes  for 
obtaining  money.  That  all-essential  element  to  his  suc 
cess  he  was  determined  to  secure,  without  regard  to 
consequences  immediate  or  future. 


CHAPTER     III. 

Burr's  Intrigues. 
* 

WHEN  Aaron  Burr  had  returned  to  Washing 
ton  from  his  summer  in  the  West,  he  was 
fully  satisfied  that  his  project  could  fail  only 
for  want  of  the  "sinews  of  war."  Everywhere  through 
the  Western  country  he  had  been  applauded  as  the 
leader  who  was  to  march  an  army  to  the  heart  of  the 
Kingdom  of  Mexico,  giving  freedom  to  her  enslaved 
millions,  and,  incidentally,  fortunes  to  his  followers. 
The  Westerners — excitable,  sympathetic,  liberty-lov 
ing,  and  patriotic — longed  for  an  opportunity  to  reta 
liate  against  Spain  for  insults  of  long  standing,  and 
they  were  ready  to  accept  the  smallest  provocation  as 
excuse  for  an  assault  on  her  decaying  empire.  Burr 
gave  them  to  understand  that  a  war  with  their  old 
oppressor  was  only  a  matter  of  time ;  that  the  Govern 
ment  would  not  interfere  with  his  plans ;  while  to  some 
he  said  that  an  expedition  for  the  invasion  of  the  Span 
ish  territories  would  be  formed  regardless  of  cause  or 
consequence.  It  was  against  this  emergency  that  he 
needed  half  a  million  dollars;  and  in  the  pursuit  of 
which  he  invoked  all  his  powers  of  dissimulation — con 
duct  which  has  come  in  this  later  day,  from  the  false 
light  thrown  upon  the  movement  to  distort  and  con 
demn  it. 

In  this  involved  scheme  the  British  Minister,  or 
King  George,  was  designed  as  the  chief  victim;  and 

41 


42     THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

Burr's  first  interview  with  Merry  upon  returning  to 
Washington  from  the  West  was  a  masterpiece  of  in 
trigue.  Merry  scrupulously  reported  the  whole  of 
Burr's  story  to  Lord  Mulgrave.1  Burr  opened  with  the 
remark  that  he  thought  the  English  Government  dis 
posed — 

"to  afford  him  their  assistance,  but  he  observed  that  the 
information  which  had  reached  him  on  this  head  was 
not  sufficiently  explicit  to  authorize  him  to  send  a  con 
fidential  person  to  London  to  make  to  them  the  necessary 
communication  as  he  had  promised  and  intended.  He 
was  therefore  now  obliged  to  try  the  effect  of  those  which 
I  might  be  able  to  convey.  .  .  .  These  disappoint 
ments  gave  him,  he  said,  the  deepest  concern,  because  his 
journey  through  the  Western  country  and  Louisiana  as 
far  as  New  Orleans,  as  well  as  through  a  part  of  West 
Florida,  had  been  attended  with  so  much  more  success 
than  he  had  even  looked  for,  that  everything  was  in  fact 
completely  prepared  in  every  quarter  for  the  execution 
of  his  plan ;  and  because  he  had  therefore  been  induced 
to  enter  into  an  engagement  with  his  associates  and 
friends  to  return  to  them  in  the  month  of  March  next, 
in  order  to  commence  the  operations." 

That  Merry — who  had  more  than  three  months 
earlier  reported  to  Lord  Mulgrave  the  successful  com 
mencement  of  the  Western  enterprise ;  who  had  seen  in 
the  newspapers  at  least  a  dozen  projects  attributed  to 
the  ex-Vice-President — should  have  asked  no  questions, 
but  have  put  in  an  official  dispatch  with  his  indorsement 
the  whole  of  Burr's  story,  is  more  a  compliment  to 
his  industry  and  ambition  than  to  his  sagacity  or  intelli 
gence.  Burr's  fear  of  delay  in  receiving  the  pecuniary 

'Merry  to  Lord  Mulgrave,  November  25,  1805 ;  MSS.  British 
Archives. 


BURR'S  INTRIGUES  43 

assistance  led  him  to  say  to  Merry  that  the  inaugura-  ' 
tion  of  his  plan  was  set  for  March,  while  in  reality  so  -, 
early  a  date  was  never  contemplated.  Because  of  the 
shortness  of  the  time  and  the  winter  season  it  was 
wholly  out  of  the  question.  It  was  announced  in  the 
West  for  the  ensuing  fall ;  and  the  correspondence  and 
every  step  taken  by  the  conspirators  show  that  to  have 
been  the  earliest  time  considered.  Burr's  next  point  *^ 
of  deception  was  that  he  had  received  encouraging 
communications  which  gave  him  "room  to  hope  and 
expect  that  his  Majesty's  government  were  disposed  to 
afford  him  their  assistance."  But  the  truth  was  that 
neither  Colonel  Williamson  nor  any  other  agent  of 
Burr  had  appeared  or  seems  likely  ever  to  have  ap 
peared  before  the  English  Cabinet.  The  fact  that 
Merry  never  received  a  line  on  the  subject  of  the  nego 
tiation  from  the  Foreign  Office  is  proof  conclusive  that 
the  Government  never  gave  an  outsider  encouragement. 
To  have  Merry  believe  the  contrary,  however,  was  but 
a  skillful  device  used  by  Burr  to  secure  his  approba 
tion  of  the  plan;  for  clearly  it  would  have  been  dis 
astrous  for  an  arrangement  to  be  made  through  any 
other  medium  than  himself. 

"He  [Burr]  was  sensible  that  no  complete  understand 
ing  on  the  subject  could  well  take  place  without  verbal 
communication;  but  he  flattered  himself  that  enough 
might  be  explained  in  this  way  to  give  a  commencement 
to  the  business,  and  that  any  ulterior  arrangements  might 
safely  be  left  till  the  personal  interviews  he  should  have 
with  the  persons  properly  authorized  for  the  purpose, 
whom  he  recommended  to  be  sent  with  the  ships  of  war, 
which  it  was  necessary  should  cruise  off  the  mouth  of 
the  Mississippi  at  the  latest  by  the  loth  of  April  next, 


44     THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

and  to  continue  there  until  the  commanding  officers 
should  receive  information  from  him  or  from  Mr.  Daniel 
Clark  of  the  country  having  declared  itself  independent." 

This  splendid  secret  of  the  West  declaring  itself 
independent  was  not  new  to  Merry,  for  the  public 
prints,  as  Burr  well  knew,  had  only  recently  declared 
that  a  convention  was  soon  to  be  called  for  just  such  a 
purpose.  But  in  reality  if  such  a  proposition  was  ever 
.  mooted  save  by  industrious  editors  there  is  no  trace 
of  it. 

Ostensibly  to  secure  the  success  of  his  undertaking 
Burr  now  requested  that  to  his  former^  estimate  .of 
naval  strength  should  be  added~a  number  of — 

"smaller  vessels ;  because  the  overture  which  had  been 
made  to  him  at  New  Orleans  from  a  person  of  the  greatest 
influence  in  East  and  West  Florida  and  the  information 
he  had  otherwise  acquired  respecting  the  state  of  those 
countries,  having  convinced  him  that  they  are  equally 
disposed  to  render  themselves  independent ;  and  while  he 
had  good  reason  to  believe  that  the  same  spirit  prevails 
in  many  other  parts  of  the  Spanish  dominions  on  this 
continent,  such  force  with  that  which  he  should  be  able 
to  provide  would  be  required  to  defend  the  entrance  of 
the  river  and  the  coasts  of  Florida  and  to  keep  up  a 
free  communication  with  the  sea  and  those  places  where 
it  might  be  found  expedient  to  act." 

Here  was  indeed  another  lever,  which,  so  far  as 
Burr  could  see,  promised  to  be  effective;  but  which  in 
reality  worked  greatly  to  the  injury  of  his  cause — 
if  there  had  ever  been  a  chance  for  it.  So  long  as  an 
attack  on  the  integrity  of  the  Union  was  in  contempla 
tion,  King  George  might  be  expected  to  open  his 
strong-box  in  its  support ;  but  to  bring  the  Floridas  and 


BURR'S  INTRIGUES  45 

"other  places  where  it  might  be  found  expedient  to  act" 
within  the  scope  of  action  was  to  close  all  avenues 
securely.  True,  England  was  at  war  with  Spain,  and 
an  attack  on  the  enemy,  to  all  appearances,  would  be 
welcomed;  but  Burr  was  not  aware  that  the  British 
Ministry,  while  aiding  Miranda,  the  South  American 
patriot,  in  a  minor  way,  were  already  considering 
plans  for  the  absorption  of  the  Spanish  colonies,  and 
would  therefore  look  upon  his  enlarged  scheme  with 
disapprobation.  In  this  connection  Burr  spoke  of 
Miranda  : 

"At  the  last  meeting  I  had  with  Mr.  Burr,"  said 
Merry,  "he  told  me  that  he  had  just  received  notice  from 
'New  York  of  the  arrival  there  from  England  of  General 
Miranda  who  appeared  by  his  information  to  have  been 
sent  to  this  country  by  his  Majesty's  government,  t*  co 
operate  with  him  in  the  plan  of  operations  against  South 
America." 

\  So  there  was  a  "plan  of  operations  against  South 
America."  Burr,  however,  disparaged  Miranda's  char 
acter,  declaring  that  he  possessed  neither  discretion  nor 
talents.  But  if  either  Miranda  or  Burr  thought  Eng 
land  disposed  to  carry  on  an  unselfish  war  for  the 
independence  of  Spanish  America  they  were  un 
acquainted  with  the  history  of  the  Tories.  The  dispo 
sition  of  the  Spanish  colonies  "to  render  themselves 
independent"  was  the  controlling  fear  of  the  Ministry. 
The  situation  was  clearly  stated  the  following  year  in 
an  official  dispatch  written  upon  receipt  of  the  news 
of  the  capture  of  Buenos  Ayres  by  a  British  force  :* 


to  Beresford,  September  21,  1806;  MSS.  British 
Archives. 


46     THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

"The  great  and  ruling  consideration  which  has  so 
long  restrained  his  Majesty  from  invading  this  part  of 
the  enemies'  territories  [Spanish  America],  has  been  the 
fear  of  exciting  in  those  countries,  from  their  known 
impatience  of  their  forms  of  government,  a  spirit  of  insur 
rection  and  revolt  leading  to  consequences  the  most  fatal 
and  which  except  by  the  presence  of  a  very  superior  force, 
his  Majesty  might  not  have  the  means  of  controlling." 

Burr  never  mentioned  names,  nor  spoke  in  precise 
terms  of  his  plans ;  the  results  of  his  Western  tour  were 
exhibited  to  Merry  only  in  broad  outlines : 

"Throughout  the  Western  country,"  said  he,  "persons 
of  the  greatest  property  and  influence  had  engaged  them 
selves  to  contribute  very  largely  towards  the  expense  of 
the  enterprise ;  at  New  Orleans  he  represented  the  inhabi 
tants  to  be  so  firmly  resolved  upon  separating  themselves 
from  their  union  with  the  United  States,  and  every 
way  to  be  so  completely  prepared,  that  he  was  sure  the 
revolution  there  would  be  accomplished  without  a  drop 
of  blood  being  shed,  the  American  force  in  that  country 
(should  it  not,  as  he  had  good  reason  to  believe,  enlist 
with  him)  not  being  sufficiently  strong  to  make  any 
opposition.  It  was  accordingly  there  that  the  revolution 
would  commence  at  the  end  of  [March?]  May1  or  the 
beginning  of  April,  provided  his  Majesty's  government 
should  consent  to  lend  their  assistance  toward  it,  and  the 
answer,  together- with  the  pecuniary  aid  which  would  be 
wanted,  arrive  in  time  to  enable  him  to  set  out  the  begin 
ning  of  March." 

Burr  frequently  recurred  to  the  urgency  of  an  early 
reply  to  his  propositions,  especially  emphasizing  the 
necessity  of  an  early  remittance  of  funds,  for  upon  the 
arrival  of  the  latter  depended  the  march  of  his  enter 
prise.  He  insisted  that  the  money  should  be  got 

'Cf.  Henry  Adams,  iii.,  230. 


BURR'S  INTRIGUES  47 

secretly  into  his  hands,  as  he  indicated  in  his  first  over 
tures;  and  suggested  that  he  would  himself  devise  a 
way  to  get  into  his  possession,  without  its  becoming 
known  or  suspected,  a  part  of  the  two  hundred  thou 
sand  pounds  which  the  United  States  were  soon  to  pay 
to  his  Majesty's  Government.  In  the  end,  failing  in  the 
first  plan,  proviso  was  made  that  one  hundred  and  ten 
thousand  pounds,  which  he  now  asked  of  Pitt,  should 
be  credited  in  the  names  of  John  Barclay  of  Philadel 
phia  and  Daniel  Clark  of  New  Orleans.  Burr  endeav 
ored  to  impress  the  Minister  with  the  revolutionary 
state  of  affairs  in  Louisiana,  bringing  up  again  the  ab 
surd  notion  that  the  inhabitants,  though  descendants  of 
French  and  Spanish  parents,  were  anxious  to  cast  off 
their  traditional  hostility  to  England  and  to  embrace 
her  in  the  new  cause. 

"Mr.  Burr  stated  to  me  —  what  I  have  reason  to 
believe  to  be  true  from  the  information  I  have  received 
from  other  quarters — that  when  he  reached  Louisiana  he 
found  the  inhabitants  so  impatient  under  the  American 
government  that  they  had  actually  prepared  a  representa 
tion  of  their  grievances,  and  that  it  was  in  agitation  to 
send  deputies  with  it  to  Paris.  The  hope,  however,  of 
becoming  completely  independent,  and  of  forming  a  much 
more  beneficial  connection  with  Great  Britain,  having 
been  pointed  out  to  them,  and  this  having  already  pre 
vailed  among  many  of  the  principal  people  who  are 
become  his  associates,  they  have  found  means  to  obtain 
a  suspension  of  the  plan  of  having  recourse  to  France; 
but  he  observed  that  if  the  execution  of  that  which  he 
had  in  view  should  be  delayed  beyond  the  time  he  had 
mentioned  the  opportunity  would  be  lost;  and  France 
would,  as  he  knew  it  positively  to  be  her  wish,  regain 
that  country  and  annex  the  Floridas  to  it." 

A  more  convincing  presentation  of  the  case  could 


48     THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

not  have  been  made ;  but  the  English  Cabinet  had  cause 
to  know  that  it  was  groundless — France  was  not  then 
playing  for  such  stakes.  Burr,  however,  was  ignorant 
of  the  situation  of  affairs  in  Europe  and  continued  to 
press  the  argument,  which  had  always  been  so  potent, 
of  the  danger  from  French  interference.  Merry  be 
lieved  the  whole  of  the  story,  even  to  Burr's  forecast 
of  the  dissolution  of  the  Republic. 

"He  observed,  what  I  readily  conceive  may  happen, 
that  when  once  Louisiana  and  the  Western  country 
became  independent,  the  Eastern  States  will  separate 
themselves  immediately  from  the  Southern ;  and  that  thus 
the  immense  power  which  is  now  risen  up  with  so  much 
rapidity  in  the  western  hemisphere  will,  by  such  a 
division,  be  rendered  at  once  informidable ;  and  that  no 
moment  could  be  so  proper  for  the  undertaking  in  ques 
tion  and  particularly  for  Great  Britain  to  take  part  in  it 
as  the  present,  when  she  has  the  command  of  the  ocean 
and  France  is  prevented  from  showing  that  interference 
in  the  business  which  she  would  otherwise  certainly 
exercise." 

Merry,  while  recommending  the  "practicability  and 
great  utility"  of  the  project,  thought  that  "his  Majesty 
may  have  already  been  disposed  to  take  part  in  the 
affair."  Thus  completely  had  the  Minister  been 
blinded.  Burr,  however,  realized  that  the  winning  over 
of  the  British  Cabinet  was  quite  another  matter. 
Indeed  it  appeared  from  the  unbroken  silence  almost 
hopeless.  So  he  turned  to  other  quarters,  still  with  a 
view  to  obtaining  the  moneys  he  calculated  necessary 
for  his  purposes.  While  in  Washington  he  was  cor- 
"  dially  received  at  the  White  House.  Yrujo  said  that 
Jefferson  both  penetrated  and  feared  him.  Before  leay- 


BURR'S  INTRIGUES  49 

ing  the  Capital  the  ex-Vice-President  wrote  Blenner- 
hassett  concerning  his  plans.  December  2ist  the  latter 
replied : 

"I  hope,  sir,  you  will  not  regard  it  indelicate  in  me 
to  observe  to  you  how  highly  I  should  be  honored  in 
being  associated  with  you,  in  any  contemplated  enterprise 
you  would  permit  me  to  participate  in.  ...  Viewing 
the  probability  of  a  rupture  with  Spain,  the  claim  for 
action  the  country  will  make  upon  your  talents,  in  the 
event  of  an  engagement  against,  or  subjugation  of,  any 
of  the  Spanish  territories,  I  am  disposed,  in  the  confiden 
tial  spirit  of  this  letter,  to  offer  you  my  friends'  and  my 
own  services  to  cooperate  in  any  contemplated  measures 
in  which  you  may  embark."1 

To  this  flattering  note  Burr  sent  in  reply  an  explicit 
definition  of  the  nature  of  his  undertaking:2 

"I  had  projected,  and  still  meditate,  a  speculation 
precisely  of  the  character  you  have  described.  .  .  .  The 
business,  however,  depends,  in  some  degree,  on  contin 
gencies  not  within  my  control,  and  will  not  be  commenced 
before  December  or  January,  if  ever.  .  .  .  But  I  must 
insist  that  these  intimations  be  not  permitted  to  inter 
rupt  the  prosecution  of  any  plans  which  you  have  formed 
for  yourself — no  occupation  which  shall  not  take  you  off 
the  continent  can  interfere  with  that  which  I  propose. 
.  .  .  We  shall  have  no  war  unless  we  should  be  actually 
invaded." 

Burr's  revelations  to  Blennerhassett  left  no  doubt 
as  to  the  object  in  view.  The  contingencies  upon  which 
the  movement  turned  were  a  Spanish  war  or  the  receipt 
of  pecuniary  assistance  either  from  Merry  or  Yrujo,  or 

Blennerhassett  to  Burr,  Blennerhassett  Papers,  p.  116. 
2Burr    to    Blennerhassett,    April    15,    1806;    Blennerhassett 
Papers,  p.  119. 


50     THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

other  source.  The  single  idea  of  the  two  notes,  that  of 
the  conquest  of  Spanish  regions,  fired  young  and  old 
alike;  it  was  therefore  not  surprising  to  find  characters 
so  divergent  as  Blennerhassett,  Andrew  Jackson,  Clark, 
Wilkinson  and  General  Presley  Neville  anxious  to  par 
ticipate  in  whatever  fortune  should  be  allotted  to  the 
fascinating  undertaking.  All  the  while,  too,  Burr  had 
the  satisfaction  of  witnessing  the  increasing  difficulties 
of  the  Government  in  its  attempt  to  stem  the  flood  of 
indignation  against  Spain.  The  Administration  was 
severely  criticized  for  its  tardiness  in  taking  up  the 
gauntlet  which  Cevallos,  as  spokesman  for  the  King, 
had  cast  at  the  feet  of  our  Ministers.  Said  a  plain- 
spoken  editor  of  the  Political  and  Commercial  Regis 
ter: 

"What  is  the  situation  of  our  governmental  character 
with  foreign  powers?  The  United  States,  so  lately  the 
wonder  and  admiration  of  the  world,  are  fallen  so  low, 
that  even  the  Spaniard  prowls  on  our  defenseless  mer 
chantmen,  and  loudly  proclaims  the  pusillanimity  of  our 
leader.  What  is  the  policy  of  the  present  Cabinet  ?  Why 
do  they  conceal  their  measures  and  the  information  they 
possess  from  the  people  who  raised  them  to  authority? 
Why  veil  from  the  public  eye  the  treatment  of  our  Min 
isters  at  the  court  of  Madrid?  Do  they  fear  that  the 
people  themselves  will  demand  vengeance  against  the 
aggressors  ?'n 


to  depend  for  our  safety,  for  the  enjoyment  of  our 
rights,  not  upon  the  wisdom  and  vigor  of  our  Adminis 
tration,  nor  upon  the  strength,  nor  the  resources  of  our 
country,  but  upon  the  clemency  and  forbearance  of 
^Orleans  Gazette,  September  27,  1805. 


BURR'S  INTRIGUES  51 

other  nations."1  From  one  end  of  the  Republic  to  the 
other  the  Government  was  decried  for  its  attitude, 
whether  it  endeavored  to  conceal  evidences  of  Spanish 
meanness,  or  tried  to  steer  clear  of  the  breakers  of 
war.  The  President  sought  to  ease  matters  by  purchas 
ing  the  Floridas.  Though  we  claimed  West  Florida 
under  the  treaty  for  the  sale  of  Louisiana,  and  had  even 
passed  a  law  regulating  the  collection  of  customs  at 
Mobile,  Jefferson  thought  the  easiest  way  out  of  the 
embroglio  was  to  pay  out.  But  his  plan  encountered 
opposition  in  Congress.  John  Randolph,  the  one  tow 
ering  figure  in  the  House,  strenuously  opposed  it ;  and 
sharply  arraigned  the  President  for  having  a  "double 
set  of  opinions  and  principles — the  one  ostensible,  the 
other  real."  In  the  first  case  he  appeared  in  his  Mes 
sage  of  December  3,  1805,  to  favor  vigorous  measures 
against  Spain;  in  the  second,  three  days  later,  he 
secretly  appealed  to  Congress  to  appropriate  moneys 
for  the  purchase  of  lands,  a  part  of  which  he  had  pro 
fessed  to  believe  already  ours.  In  the  midst  of  the  dis 
cussion,  January  3d,  Randolph  laid  before  the  Repre 
sentatives  a  spirited,  warlike  report  based  on  the  Mes 
sage  of  December  3d.  The  closing  resolution  read  that 
the  Southern  frontier  was  to  be  protected  "from  Span 
ish  inroad  and  insult."  Indeed  it  went  further :  meas 
ures  were  to  be  resorted  to  which  meant,  beyond  perad- 
venture,  conflict  with  Spain.  By  plying  the  party  lash 
Jefferson  succeeded  in  having  Randolph's  Resolution 
buried  under  a  bill  which  carried  with  it  $2,000,000 
for  the  purchase  of  the  Floridas.  The  President  had 

^Orleans  Gazette,  November  22,  1805. 


52     THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

carried  his  point,  but  the  report  of  such  a  bill  provoked 
more  than  partisan  rebuke  throughout  the  Union. 

"There  was  a  happy  moment,"  ran  a  paragraph  in  the 
Orleans  Gazette,1  "when  the  government  of  the  United 
States,  with  every  plea  of  justice  and  necessity  on  its 
side,  might,  at  a  blow,  have  expelled  the  Spaniards  from 
our  shores.  It  required  nothing  but  the  sanction  of 
authority,  and  the  generous  spirit  of  the  nation,  which 
had  left  far  behind  the  nerveless  soul  of  the  Government, 
would  have  performed  the  business  even  without  a 
reward.  ...  If  the  wise  counsels  of  Federal  men  had 
been  listened  to,  we  should  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye, 
as  it  were,  have  the  rightful  possession  of  those  terri 
tories,  which  form  a  natural  and  very  important  append 
age  of  our  own." 

Editor  Bradford  of  the  Orleans  Gazette  was  an  un 
disguised  revolutionist,  and  had  admitted  to  his  col 
umns,  at  the  time  of  Burr's  first  visit  to  the  West,  an 
article  which  might  have  been  copied  in  part  from  the 
annals  of  the  French  Revolution  :2 — 

"By  a  war  she  [Spain]  would  have  everything  to  lose, 
and  nothing  to  win.  ...  To  the  east  the  Floridas 
would  fall  into  our  hands  without  opposition,  and  to  the 
southwest,  New  Mexico,  with  all  its  wealth,  opposes  no 
obstacle  to  invasion.  .  .  .  This  conquest  would  give  us 
the  key  to  the  southern  continent;  and  the  soldiers  of 
Liberty,  animated  by  the  spirit  of  '76  and  the  genius  of 
their  Washington,  would  go  to  the  field,  not  with  a  hope 
of  plunder,  but  to  avenge  the  cause  of  their  country,  and 
to  give  freedom  to  a  new  world.  The  innocent  blood  of 
the  natives,  which  was  so  lavishly  spilt  by  the  merciless 
Cortez  and  Pizarro,  yet  calls  aloud  for  vengeance,  and 
the  descendants  of  Montezuma  and  Mango  Capac,  would 
draw  the  avenging  sword,  ...  on  the  first  approach 

*Or  leans  Gazette,  March  28,  1806. 
^Orleans  Gazette,  May  24,  1805. 


BURR'S  INTRIGUES  53 

of  an  invading  army.     .    .     .    Thus  in  eighteen  months 
would  the  two  continents  own  the  dominion  of  laws." 

Bradford  did  not  stand  alone — there  were  many 
others  in  the  States  who  saw  the  matter  as  he ;  for  the 
maxims  of  the  French  Revolution  were  still  living 
forces.  The  morbid  sentiment  indulged  over  the  con 
dition  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Spanish  colonies  is  one 
more  proof  that  nations  are  ofttimes  blind  to  their  own 
shortcomings.  For  why  should  charity  not  have  begun 
at  home  in  granting  freedom  to  the  negro  slaves?  By 
this  it  is  not  meant  to  question  the  sincerity  of  the 
enthusiasm  of  the  American  mind  for  the  emancipation 
of  the  colonies  of  Don  Carlos.  On  the  contrary,  there 
is  every  reason  to  believe  in  the  honesty  of  the  desire ; 
but  it  was  so  intermingled  with  the  lust  for  revenge 
against  a  sovereign  whose  territories  were  coveted, 
that  the  measure  of  its  intensity  is  lost. 

Favorable,  even  flattering,  the  situation  appeared 
to  the  leaders  of  the  conspiracy.  There  were  few  who 
dreamed  of  the  difficulties  to  be  overcome;  of  the  need 
for  money  and  the  crying  want  thereof ;  of  prejudices 
and  distempers  to  be  combated,  which  were  to  prove 
fatal  in  the  end.  Perhaps  only  Dayton  and  Wilkinson 
were  in  the  innermost  secret,  and  aided  in  devising 
ways  and  means.  Wilkinson  drew  from  his  own  expe- 
perience,  and  the  intrigues  with  Merry  and  Yrujo  re 
flect  his  handiwork,  while  he  has  left  us  convincing 
proof  of  his  complicity  in  the  enterprising  design  of 
defrauding  both  Spain  and  England.  Scarcely  had  the 
conspiracy  collapsed  when  Wilkinson  confessed  in  a 
confidential  dispatch  to  Jefferson : 


54     THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

"No  doubt  remains  with  me  that  he  [Burr]  has  duped 
both  the  British  and  Spanish  legations  and  converted 
them  to  his  use,  by  the  promise  of  the  subversion  of  our 
Government  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  revolutionizing  of 
Mexico  on  the  other."1 

The  knowledge  of  the  stratagem  which  was  to  be 
used  with  the  Ministers  was  well  employed  by  Wilkin 
son  when  once  he  had  begun  his  denunciations,  for  he 
was  also  aware  that  the  country  at  large  was  con 
founded  by  the  mingling  of  the  two  sets  of  arguments. 

Although  Dayton  and  Burr  were  unpractised  in  the 
art  of  extracting  specie  from  foreign  coffers,  they 
learned  their  lesson  with  so  much  facility  that  it  was 
clear  James  Wilkinson  had  been  their  instructor.  De 
cember  ist,  after  his  interviews  with  Merry,  Burr 
reached  Philadelphia  whither  Dayton  had  preceded 
him.  There,  December  5th,  the  Marquis  of  Caso  Yrujo 
was  secretly  visited  by  Dayton,  who  was  primed  with 
an  excellently  prepared  story  which  it  was  thought 
would  bring  Yrujo  to  the  financial  aid  of  the  scheme. 
Dayton  began  by  saying  that  he  thought  thirty  or  forty 
thousand  dollars  would  not  be  an  excessive  sum  to  pay 
for  certain  events  which  were  transpiring  at  London 
upon  whose  outcome  hung  the  fate  of  the  most  precious 
possessions  of  the  Spanish  monarchy.  Yrujo  assured 
him  that  his  master  was  liberal  and  would  reward  ser 
vices.  Thus  encouraged  the  ex-Senator  began  by  say 
ing  that  he  was  one  of  three  persons  in  this  country 
who  knew  of  the  plot;  that  the  Government  was  ig- 

'Wilkinson  to  Jefferson.  February  13,  1807;  Letters  in  Rela 
tion  to  Burr's  Conspiracy;  MSS.  State  Department  Archives. 


BURR'S  INTRIGUES 


norant  of  it,  but  not  l£ss  concerned  than  Spain.    Then 
he  continued:1 —   ^ 

"Toward  the  close  of  the  last  session  and  the  end  of 
March,  Colonel  Burr  had  various  secret  conferences  with 
the  English  minister,  to  whom  he  proposed  a  plan  not 
only  for  taking  the  Floridas,  but  also  for  effecting  the 
separation  and  independence  of  the  States  of  the  West, — 
a  part  of  this  plan  being  that  the  Floridas  shall  be  associ 
ated  in  this  new  federative  republic;  England  to  receive 
as  a  reward  for  her  services  a  decisive  preference  in 
matters  of  commerce  and  navigation,  these  advantages 
to  be  secured  by  means  of  a  treaty  which  will  be  made 
upon  the  recognition  by  England  of  this  new  republic. 
This  plan  met  the  approbation  of  the  English  minister, 
who  recommended  it  to  his  court.  In  the  meantime 
Colonel  Burr  has  been  in  New  Orleans,  in  the  Mississippi 
Territory,  the  States  of  Tennessee,  Kentucky,  and  Ohio, 
to  sound  and  prepare  their  minds  for  this  revolution.  In 
all  these  States  he  found  their  dispositions  most  favorable 
not  only  for  their  emancipation  which  they  evidently 
desire,  but  also  for  leading  an  expedition  against  the 
Kingdom  of  Mexico.  This  is  an  idea  that  occurred  to 
us  after  sending  the  first  plan  to  London;  and  having 
given  greater  extension  to  the  project,  Colonel  Burr  sent 
to  London  a  dispatch  with  his  new  ideas  to  Colonel  Wil 
liamson,  an  English  officer  who  has  been  for  a  long  time 
in  this  country,  and  whose  return  is  expected  within  a 
month  or  six  weeks.  The  first  project  was  well  received 
by  the  English  Cabinet;  more  particularly  by  Mr, 
Dundas,  or  Lord  Melville,  who  was  charged  with  the 
correspondence;  but  as  he  had  reason  to  fear  dismission 
from  office  for  causes  well  known  through  the  debates  of 
Parliament,  the  plan  hasjjeen  retarded ;  but  Mr.  Pitt  has 
again  turned  his  attention  to  it.  In  order  to  effect  the 
conquest  of  the  Floridas  and  the  emancipation  of  the 
Western  States  half  a  million  dollars  has  been  appropri 
ated  j  the  expedition  on  the  part  of  England  will  be  com 
posed  of  three  ships  of  the  line  and  seven  or  eight  smaller 

*Yrujo  to  Cevallos,  December  5,  1805 ;  MSS.  Spanish  Archives* 


56     THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

armed  vessels  which  will   bring  arms,   ammunition   and 
artillery,  but  few  men,  as  men  were  not  needed." 

The  conspirators  never  turned  out  a  more  palpably 
fictitious  fabric.  Yet  with  the  strength  of  it  Dayton 
and  Burr  hoped  to  bind  Yrujo  to  the  project;  and 
somehow  to  terrify  Don  Carlos  into  paying  the  ex 
penses  of  an  enterprise  against  his  own  possessions. 
The  irony  of  it  is  fascinating.  Yrujo  was  in  a  more 
treacherous  situation  than  Merry.  As  for  the  latter, 
Burr  employed  his  wiles  to  make  him  a  catspaw  to 
draw  from  the  British  treasury  half  a  million  dollars; 
while  the  former  was  to  contribute  funds  for  a  secret 
which  had  been  contrived  to  entrap  him,  to  disguise  the 
real  object  of  the  association,  and  which  would  have 
been  revealed  to  him  in  any  case.  If  an  assault  was 
really  to  be  made  on  the  Spanish  provinces,  it  was  but 
plain  foresight  to  disarm  Yrujo,  or  better  still  to  leave 
him  nursing  the  idea  that  his  Sovereign  was  aiding  in 
the  dispersion  of  the  Power  in  the  Western  World 
which  menaced  the  integrity  of  his  Empire. 

The  Marquis  was  assured  that  the  Western  States 
would  declare  themselves  independent  the  moment  the 
English  squadron  appeared  off  the  coast  of  Florida  in 
February  or  March ;  that  in  order  to  make  the  revolu 
tion  more  popular  after  having  taken  the  Floridas  the 
expedition  against  Mexico  would  be  attempted;  that 
Miranda  had  just  been  sent  to  this  country  by  the  Eng 
lish  Government  to  act  in  concert  with  Burr;  that  no 
opposition  from  the  feeble  Federal  Government  was  an 
ticipated  ;  that  the  United  States  troops  were  nearly  all 
in  the  West,  and  that  Colonel  Burr  had  caused  them  to 


BURR'S  INTRIGUES  57 

be  sounded  in  regard  to  the  expedition  against  Mexico ; 
that  they  were  all  ready  to  follow  him  and  that  there 
was  no  doubt  they  were  also  ready  to  support  the  rights 
of  the  Westerners  against  the  impotent  forces  of  the 
Federal  Government.  In  the  operations  against  Mex 
ico,  England  would  cooperate  by  sea ;  a  landing  would 
probably  be  made  at  Panuco.  Dayton  avowed  that 
Burr  had  emissaries  in  the  interior  of  the  province  of 
Texas,  and  that  he  had  sent  some  also  to  Vera  Cruz 
and  other  points  on  the  coast  with  the  moneys  which  he 
had  already  received  from  England;  that  he  meant  to 
convert  into  a  republic  or  republics  the  Spanish  prov 
inces  which  should  be  conquered  or  revolutionized. 

Yrujo  observed  to  Cevallos  that  the  acquisition  of 
Louisiana  had  rendered  inevitable  the  separation  of  the 
West  from  the  Union  within  the  space  of  two  years, 
and  that  the  Floridas  would  succumb  to  the  revolution. 
He  was  confident,  however,  that  the  Administration 
would  not  be  deceived  by  the  wiles  of  Burr.  Yrujo's 
distrust  of  Dayton,  whom  he  recognized  as  Burr's 
spokesman,  was  great.  He  saw  at  once  that  England 
had  not  encouraged  the  affair  to  the  extent  of  a  hundred 
thousand  pounds,  for,  had  she  done  so,  Dayton  would 
not  have  come  to  him,  as  he  said  to  Cevallos,  the  alert 
Minister  of  State,  to  play  the  part  of  the  "faithful 
thief,  relating  a  secret,  which,  for  many  reasons,  he 
was  interested  in  concealing  from  him."  Thus  the 
main  end  sought  had  been  accomplished — Yrujo  no 
longer  credited  the  prevailing  rumors  that  Mexico  was 
the  objective  point,  for,  had  it  been  so,  the  conspirators 
would  not  have  been  guilty  of  the  folly  of  making  a 


58     THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

clean  breast  of  it.  However,  partially  successful  though 
they  had  been,  Burr  and  the  ex-Senator  feared  they 
had  gone  too  far ;  so,  when  the  latter  returned  to  Phila 
delphia  from  a  fortnight  in  Washington  he  was  pre 
pared  to  unfold  another  story  fantastic  and  absurd  in 
the  highest  degree.  But  this  time,  singularly  enough, 
Yrujo  was  completely  taken  in. 

After  referring  to  Burr's  resolve  to  have  nothing  to 
do  with  Miranda,  whom  he  thought  wanting  in  many 
qualities  necessary  to  lead  a  great  enterprise,  Dayton 
made  bold  to  say  that  the  English  end  of  the  intrigue 
had  met  with  reverses,  hinting  that  negotiations  in  that 
quarter  were  abandoned;  whereas  we  know  the  hopes 
of  the  conspirators  in  British  aid  were  still  high.  Burr 
had  been  on  the  eve  of  dispatching  to  London  an  inti 
mate  by  the  name  of  Wharton,  continued  Dayton,  to 
renew  the  negotiations,  when  another  plan  had  sug 
gested  itself  :*- 

"This  project,  excepting  the  attack  on  the  Floridas,  he 
[Burr]  thinks,  as  well  as  his  chief  friends,  may  be  put 
in  execution  without  foreign  aid.  For  one  who  does  not 
know  the  country,  its  Constitution,  and,  above  all  certain 
localities,  this  plan  would  appear  insane;  but  I  confess, 
for  my  part,  that  in  view  of  all  the  circumstances  it  seems 
easy  of  execution,  although  it  would  irritate  the  'Atlantic 
States,  especially  those  called  central — namely,  Virginia, 
Maryland,  Delaware,  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey,  and 
New  York.  It  is  indisputable  that  there  is  in  this  country 
an  infinite  number  of  adventurers,  without  property,  full 
of  ambition,  and  ready  to  unite  at  once  under  the  standard 
of  a  revolution  which  promises  to  better  their  situation. 
It  is  almost  certain  that  Burr  and  his  friends,  without  dis 
closing  their  true  object,  have  won  the  good  will  of  these 

'Yrujo  to  Cevallos,  January  i,  1806;  MSS.  Spanish  Archives. 


BURR'S  INTRIGUES  59 

men  and  inspired  them  with  the  greatest  confidence  in 
favor  of  Burr,  whose  intrigues  during  the  past  year  were 
devoted  to  the  fanning  of  the  flames  of  discord  against 
the  existing  government  in  Louisiana  and  the  Western 
States  which  he  visited." 

Burr's  "new  idea,''  which  Yrujo  thought  would 
"probably  be  carried  into  effect,"  was  to  introduce  by 
degrees  into  the  Federal  city  and  its  environs  a  certain 
number  of  his  desperate  followers,  well  armed,  who,  at 
a  signal,  with  Burr  at  their  head  would  surprise  at  the 
same  instant  the  President,  the  Vice-President,  and  the 
President  of  the  Senate,  Burr  would  then  dissolve  the 
existing  government,  possess  himself  of  the  public 
money  deposited  in  the  Washington  and  Georgetown 
banks  and  seize  the  arsenal  on  the  Eastern  Branch. 
Profiting  by  the  consternation  such  a  blow  would  pro 
duce,  the  conspirators  would  try  to  make  favorable 
terms  with  the  States ;  but  should  they  fail  to  maintain 
themselves  at  Washington,  which  seemed  probable,  they 
would  burn  the  national  vessels  at  the  Navy  Yards,  ex 
cept  two  or  three  frigater  which  were  ready  for  sea, 
and  embarking  on  these  with  the  treasure,  they  would 
sail  for  New  Orleans,  where  upon  their  arrival  they 
.  would  proclaim  the  independence  of  Louisiana  and  the 
West.1 

It  would  be  as  easy  to  believe  in  the  truthfulness  of 
one  of  Baron  Miinchausen's  tales  as  that  Burr  seri 
ously  contemplated  so  utterly  harebrained  an  enterprise 
as  Dayton  now  revealed  to  the  Marquis.  If  it  had  not 
already  appeared  indisputable  that  Yrujo  was  to  be 

'Adams  (iii.,  239),  McMaster  (Hi.,  62),  and  others  think  that 
Burr  actually  meditated  such  a  coup  d'etat. 


60     THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

deceived  for  a  double  purpose,  it  would  be  legitimate 
to  inquire  into  Burr's  sanity.  That  such  a  high-handed, 
buccaneering  plot  had  the  shadow  of  a  chance  to  reach 
maturity  could  not  have  been  believed  by  any  one 
acquainted  with  American  character,  or  the  actual  situ 
ation  of  affairs.  And  yet  Yrujo  thought  it  certain  of 
success,  observing  to  Cevallos  that  "Spain  would  view 

with  extreme  satisfaction  the  dismemberment  of  the 

i 

colossal  power  which  was  growing  up  at  the  very  gates 
of  her  most  precious  and  important  colonies."  The 
great  difficulty  to  be  surmounted  in  the  execution  of 
this  momentous  project  was  "the  acquisition  of  half  a 
million  or  a  million  dollars  which  the  principals  calcu 
lated  would  be  necessary  to  expend  for  provisions, 
arms,  pay  for  men,"  et  cetera.  The  solution  was  easy 
—Burr  had  offered  to  sell  his  services  to  Spain,  and 
Yrujo  intimated  that  the  King  ought  to  come  to  his  aid, 
for  the  following  reasons : 

"At  a  second  conference  with  this  subject  [Dayton] 
he  told  me  that  Burr  had  authorized  him  to  say  that 
in  this  second  project,  which  was  the  one  determined 
upon,  Spain  had  nothing  to  fear  for  her  possessions ; 
that  on  the  contrary  he  counted  on  her  friendship  because 
of  her  obvious  interest  in  the  success  of  the  enterprise ; 
that  the  matter  of  the  Louisiana  boundary  would  be 
arranged  to  our  entire  satisfaction ;  .  .  .  that  the 
Floridas  would  be  undisturbed,  not  only  out  of  respect 
for  Spain,  but  because  his  political  interest  demanded  that 
a  foreign  nation  should  hold  possessions  both  in  the 
Atlantic  States  and  those  of  the  West." 

For  the  moment  Burr's  success  with  Yrujo  was  as 
complete  as  it  had  been  with  Merry — and  he  had  every 
cause  to  hope  that  he  would  yet  receive  financial  succor 


BURR'S  INTRIGUES  61 

which  would  enable  him  to  purchase  ships,  arms,  and 
necessaries  for  the  equipment  of  "his  expedition.  So 
much  was  he  encouraged  with  the  situation  that  he 

wrote  to  Wilkinson,  December  I2th: 

**< 

"About  the  last  of  October  our  cabinet  was  seriously 
disposed  for  war  with  the  Spaniards;  but  more  recent 
accounts  of  the  increasing  and  alarming  aggressions  and 
annoyance  of  the  British,  and  some  courteous  words  from 
the  French,  have  banished  every  such  intention.  In  case 
of  such  warfare,  Lee  would  have  been  commander-in- 
chief :  truth  I  assure  you :  he  must  you  know  come  from 
Virginia.  .  .  .  On  the  subject  of  a  certain  speculation, 
it  is  not  deemed  material  to  write  till  the  whole  can  be 
communicated.  The  circumstance  referred  to  in  a  letter 
from  Ohio  remains  in  suspense:  the  auspices,  however,  . 
are  favorable,  and  it  is  believed  that  Wilkinson  will  give  If 
audience  to  a  delegation  composed  of  Adair~and  Dayton 

in  February.     Can  25 be  had  in  your  vicinity  to 

move  at  some  few  hours'  notification?"1 

Burr  regretted  the  peaceful  course  of  Government 
— the  non-materialization  of  the  Spanish  War ;  and  his 
characterization  of  the  political  status  was  eminently 
correct.  Concerning  a  certain  speculation — doubtless 
the  intrigues  with  the  Spanish  and  British  ministers — 
he  could  only  give  Wilkinson  hope.  The  reference  to 
Adair  and  Dayton  and  the  question  as  to  the  number  of 
men  which  could  be  had  were  intelligible  only  to  the 
General. 

While  waiting  for  replies  to  the  representations 
which  had  been  made  by  Merry  and  Yrujo  to  their  re 
spective  Governments,  Burr  continued  to  enlarge  the 
circle  of  his  associates.  During  the  early  months  of 

VBurr  to  Wilkinson,  December  12,  1806;  Wilkinson's  Mem 
oirs,  ii.,  Ap.  Ixxxiv. 


62    THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

1806  he  approached  Commodore  Truxton  with  the 
,  proposition  that  he  should  command  the  naval  arm  of 
'an  expedition  against  Mexico;  and  to  William  Eaton, 
who  was  engaged  in  pressing  before  Congress  a  very 
doubtful  claim  to  certain  pecuniary  restitutions,  he  laid 
bare  not  only  the  first  plan,  but  also  that  which  had  so 
taken  Yrujo :  "He  would  turn  Congress  neck  and  heels 
out  of  doors,  assassinate  the  President  (or  what 
amounted  to  that),and  declare  himself  the  protector  of 
an  energetic  Government."  Believing  in  these  hor 
ribly  criminal  designs  of  the  ex-Vice-President,  some 
time  in  March  Eaton  called  on  the  President  and  sug 
gested  that  "Colonel  Burr  ought  to  be  removed  from 
the  country"  because  he  was  dangerous  in  it.  Either 
the  post  at  Madrid  or  London  was  considered  by  Eaton 
a  secure  place  for  the  exile  of  Mr.  Burr.  If  anything 
could  give  rise  to  a  suspicion  of  this  informant's  in 
tegrity,  it  is  this  conversation  with  Jefferson.  It  was 
in  March,  too,  that  Burr  applied  in  person  to  the  Presi 
dent  for  an  appointment,  which  fact  Jefferson  notes  in 
his  "Anas''  under  date  of  April  I5th.  This  coincident 
provokes  the  suspicion  that  Burr  had  bribed  Eaton  to 
prepare  the  ground  for  his  personal  application  for  a 
foreign  appointment.  Why  were  Madrid  and  London 
specified?  Could  Burr  have  planned  to  undertake  at 
shorter  range  the  intrigues  which  were  then  progress 
ing  with  those  courts  ?  It  was  either  that  or  a  ruse,  for 
Burr  must  have  known  in  advance  what  Jefferson's 
reply  would  be.  'He  had  lost  the  confidence  of  the 
country,  and  could  not  be  appointed/  were  the  Presi 
dent's  words. 


BURR'S  INTRIGUES  63 

In  the  middle  of  April,  Burr  wrote  Blennerhassett 
that  the  business,  which  depended  on  contingencies 
beyond  his  control,  would  not  begin  until  December  or 
January,  if  ever.1  To  Wilkinson  he  said : 

"The  execution  of  our  project  is  postponed  till  Decem 
ber  :  want  of  water  in  Ohio,  rendered  movement  imprac 
ticable  :  other  reasons  rendered  delay  expedient.  The 
association  is  enlarged,  and  comprises  all  that  Wilkinson 
could  wish.  Confidence  limited  to  a  few.  .  .  .  Burr 
wrote  you  a  long  letter  last  December,  replying  to  a  short 
one  deemed  very  silly.  Nothing  has  been  heard  from 
Brigadier  since  October.  Is  Cusion  et  Fortes  right? 
Address  Burr  at  Washington."2 

"Cusion  and  Fortes"  were  officers  on  the  frontier, 
Wilkinson  the  "Brigadier"  confessed ;  but  Burr's  ebjeet 
was  not  so  much  to  find  out  whether  they  were  "right" 
as  to  impress  the  general  with  the  fact  that  the  associa 
tion  was  enlarged  and  comprised  all  that  he  could  wish. 
"Want  of  water  in  Ohio"  was  a  clever  way  of  saying 
that  thus  far  he  had  failed  in  his  purpose  with  Merry 
and  Yrujo. 

While  these  things  were  occurring  in  the  East  the 
news  of  warlike  preparations  in  Kentucky  was  making 
its  way  across  Texas  and  the  deserts  of  North  Mexico 
to  Captain-General  Salcedo  at  Chihuahua.  Early  in 
1806  Antonio  Cordero,  Governor  of  the  Province  of 
Texas,  had  received  notice  that  an  expedition  was 
being  prepared  in  Kentucky  which  was  to  overrun  the 
provinces  of  Mexico.  This  news  had  reached  the  Gov 
ernor,  not  through  the  instrumentality  of  Yrujo,  but 

^Blennerhassett  Papers,  p.  118. 

3Burr  to  Wilkinson,  April  16,  1806 ;  Memoirs,  ii.,  Ap.  Ixxxiii. 


64     THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

directly  from  the  Spanish  agents  in  Louisiana.     The 
report  was  alarming. 

"It  is  a  very  grave  matter,"  responded  Salcedo,  April 
9th,1  "the  information  which  your  excellency  has  received 
and  transmitted  to  me — that  some  ten  thousand  men, 
subjects  of  the  United  States,  are  being  prepared  in  Ken 
tucky  (Quintoq),  with  the  object  of  overpowering  the 
uninhabited  provinces  of  this  kingdom  and  our  Indian 
allies,  with  no  respect  for  the  boundaries  of  Louisiana. 
You  will  therefore  take  extraordinary  precautions 
toward  putting  the  country  in  a  good  state  of  defense 
by  bringing  up  all  the  auxiliaries." 

The  obnoxious  Intendant  Morales  who  had  aroused 
hot  indignation  in  the  United  States  by  closing  the 
port  of  New  Orleans,  wrote  from  Pensacola  to  Viceroy 
Iturrigaray,  "There  exists  in  New  Orleans  a  strong 
party  whose  object  it  is  to  revolutionize  the  Kingdom 
of  Mexico,  and  the  conditions  on  the  frontier  are  en-« 
tirely  favorable  to  such  a  design."/  He  stated  also 
that  he  had  been  reliably  informed  that  the  revolution 
was  to  be  materially  abetted  by  means  of  emissaries  and 
papers  which  were  to  be  circulated  throughout  the 
country.  Many  ecclesiastics  were  in  the  plot,  and  many 
subjects  were  already  won  over.2 

Again  from  the  frontier  came  the  note  of  alarm. 
Francisco  Viana,  Inspector-General  of  the  troops  in 
Texas,  from  his  headquarters  at  Nacogdoches  dis 
patched  to  Cordero  this  message!? — 

"The   rumor   grows   that   the   American    forces   are 

Salcedo  to  Cordero,  April  9,  1806;  MSS.  Bexar  Archives. 
'Morales  to  Iturrigaray,  May  12,  1806;  MSS.  Bexar  Archives. 
'Viana  to  Cordero,  June  3,  1806;  MSS.  Bexar  Archives. 


BURR'S  INTRIGUES  65 

gathering  in  Kentucky,  and  that  our  unpeopled  lands, 
neophytes,  and  vassal  Indians  are  to  fall  into  their  hands. 
And  I  have  neither  munitions,  arms,  provisions,  nor 
soldiers  wherewith  to  uphold  our  authority.  I  have 
despatched  a  corporal,  a  trader,  and  four  soldiers  to  the 
Tejas  Indians,  asking  that  they  arm  as  many  as  possible 
and  come  to  my  assistance." 

The  truth  was,  New  Spain  was  in  a  wretched  con 
dition,  and  Morales  was  clear-headed  when  he  avowed 
that  the  situation  was  all  the  Americans  could  desire. 
But  the  most  startling  note  in  this  correspondence  was 
the  unconscious  revelation  of  the  vital  purpose  of  the 
enterprise. 

The  disingenuous  disclosures  of  Dayton  had  thus 
far  produced  only  in  part  the  desired  effect.  True, , 
Yrujo  had  been  thrown  off  his  guard,  but  Cevallos  had 
not  been  constrained  to  make  the  expected  advances. 
New  tactics  were  therefore  devised,  and  Burr  himself 
visited  the  Marquis  in  the  final  hope  of  obtaining  funds 
and  of  leaving  the  minister  in  a  helpless  state  of  in 
certitude. 

"The  principal  has  opened  himself  to  me,"  wrote 
Yrujo  to  Cevallos,  May  14,  18O6;1  "and  his  communica 
tions  have  confirmed  me  in  the  idea  not  only  of  the  possi 
bility,  but  of  the  facility  of  the  execution  of  the  project 
under  certain  circumstances — to  effect  which  pecuniary 
aid  on  our  part  and  on  that  of  France  is  wanted.  I  have 
been  very  circumspect  in  my  answers  and  have  not  com 
promised  myself  in  any  way ;  and  when  I  return  to  Spain 
next  spring  I  shall  be  the  bearer  of  all  the  plan  with  the 
details  which  may  be  wanted.  There  will  also  arrive 
in  Spain,  more  or  less  simultaneously  with  me,  though 
by  different  ways,  two  or  three  very  respectable  persons, 

to  Cevallos,  May  14,  1806;  MSS.  Spanish  Archives. 


66     THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

both  from  Louisiana  and  from  Kentucky  and  Tennessee, 
with  the  same  object.  They  all  consider  the  interests  of 
those  countries  united  and  in  conformity  with  those  of 
Spain  and  France;  but  the  principal,  or  more  correctly 
the  principals,  here  do  not  wish  to  open  themselves  to  the 
Emperor  Napoleon's  minister  [Turreau],  as  they  have  no 
confidence  in  him.  Consequently,  it  will  be  proper  either 
not  to  communicate  the  matter  at  all  to  that  Government, 
or  to  do  it  with  the  request  that  its  representative  here 
remain  uninformed ;  for  I  repeat,  they  have  no  confidence 
in  him,  and  this  has  been  a  condition  imposed  on  me  in 
the  communications  I  have  received." 

If  Bollman's  report  to  Madison  and  Jefferson  con 
cerning  Burr's  designs  can  be  credited,  Burr  had  di- 
Ivined  Napoleon's  project  of  absorbing  not  only  Spain 
but  also  her  American  possessions,  and  hoped  to  gain 
for  himself  a  slice  of  the  crumbling  empire.1  It  was 
therefore  but  a  partvof  wisdom  to  leave  Napoleon,  who 
was  rising  toward  the  zenith  of  his  career,  ignorant 
of  any  revolutionary  scheme  which  threatened  even  re 
motely  to  cross  his  own  astounding  plans.  The  pre 
caution  had  been  taken  to  ignore  Turreau,  but  he  knew 
nevertheless,  through  the  press,  which  never  ceased  its 
speculations,  of  Burr's  supposed  enterprise  for  the  sepa 
ration  of  the  States,  and  wrote  his  home  Government 
concerning  it.  Mentioning  Miranda's  departure,  he 
continued  :2 — 

"The  project  of  effecting  a  separation  between  the 
Western  and  Atlantic  States  marches  abreast  with  this 
one.  Burr,  though  displeased  at  first  by  the  arrival  of 
Miranda,  who  might  reduce  him  to  a  secondary  role,  has 
set  off  again  for  the  South,  after  having  had  several 

1Madison's  Writings,  ii.,  393. 

'Adams's  History  of  the  United  States,  Hi.,  2261. 


BURR'S  INTRIGUES  67 

conferences  with  the  British  minister.  .  .  .  This  divi 
sion  of  the  confederated  States  appears  to  me  inevitable, 
and  perhaps  less  remote  than  is  commonly  supposed ;  but 
would  this  event,  which  England  seems  to  favor,  be  really 
contrary  to  the  interests  of  France?" 

Turreau  thought  the  Government  ignorant  of 
Burr's  intentions ;  and  yet  Yrujo  in  a  letter  of  the  same 
date,  February  I3th,  remarked,  "It  seems  that  the  Gov 
ernment  have  penetrated  the  project  of  Colonel  Burr, 
and  in  reality  I  am  apprehensive  lest  the  French  minis 
ter  fearing  it  prejudicial  to  his  country  has  informed 
them."  1  It  is  amazing  that  such  a  perplexing  con 
fusion  in  political  affairs  could  have  existed. 

Having  failed  in  his  personal  effort  to  draw 
from  the  Spanish  minister  a  pecuniary  response,  Burr 
tried  a  last  resort — he  threatened  Yrujo  with  abandon 
ing  his  favorable  attitude  toward  Spain  and  with  taking 
up  again  the  web  of  his  English  intrigue,  whose  en 
tangling  meshes  involved  the  Floridas  and  Mexico. 
June  Qth,  Yrujo  in  some  uneasiness  wrote  Cevallos  on 
the  subject.  Burr  had  suddenly  ceased  to  visit  him, 
and  Dayton  explained  that  this  was  due  to  the  fact  that 
the  new  Government  in  England  was  anxious  to  under 
take  the  matter,  and  that  Burr  believed  it  would  be 
more  liberal  with  money  advances  as  well  as  offer  better 
means  of  protection.  Dayton  said  that  Burr  was  draw 
ing  up  supplementary  instructions  for  Williamson,  and 
that  Bollman  would  sail  within  ten  days  for  London 
to  lay  new  propositions  before  the  Ministry,  and  to  in 
vite  cooperation  in  an  attack  on  tne  Floridas.  Dayton, 

'Yrujo  to  Cevallos,  February  13,  1806;  MSS.  Spanish 
Archives. 


68     THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

still  the  "faithful  thief,"  informed  Yrujo  that  he  had 
protested  to  Burr  against  his  unprincipled  ambition, 
and  would  oppose  the  attack  on  the  Spanish  possessions, 
which  he  deemed  unjust  and  impolitic,  in  the  Cabinet 
council  which  certain  chiefs  were  to  hold  in  New 
Orleans  in  the  month  of  December,  proximo.  The  ex- 
Senator  suggested  that  the  best  way  to  banish  such 
ideas  from  the  heads  of  the  leaders  was  to  reenforce 
Pensacola  and  Mobile. 

While  Yrujo  believed  to  the  last  that  the  main  de 
sign  of  the  associates  was  the  division  of  the  Union, 
he  had  warned  the  officials  in  the  Spanish  provinces  to 
be  on  the  alert  against  surprise.  He  had,  moreover, 
given  Dayton  encouragement  in  the  substantial  form  of 
fifteen  hundred  dollars,  and  in  soliciting  for  him  from 
the  King  one  thousand  more  along  with  a  pension  of 
fifteen  hundred  a  year.1  The  pension  was  denied,  but 
the  Minister  was  licensed  to  pay  Dayton,  who  had  in 
deed  demanded  much  larger  sums,  another  thousand 
dollars.  That  was  as  far  as  Cevallos  was  disposed  to 
go.  He  saw  instantly  that  England  had  not  espoused 
the  cause  of  Burr,  for  at  the  moment  Napoleon  was 
free  from  Continental  dangers  and  England  was  mak 
ing  preparations  for  the  defense  of  her  own  shores. 
Cevallos  further  hinted  that  Dayton  had  a  greater  in 
terest  in  "selling"  the  secret  than  in  keeping  it,2  but  in 
a  later  communication  intimated  to  Yrujo  that  if  the 
United  States  were  determined  to  war  with  Spain 
some  use  might  be  made  of  the  malcontents.  The 

'Yrujo  to  Cevallos,  February  13,  1806;  MSS.  Spanish 
Archives. 

'Cevallos  to  Yrujo,  February  3,  1806;  MSS.  Spanish  Archives. 


BURR'S  INTRIGUES  69 

minister,  however,  was  warned  against  committing 
himself  or  contributing  money/  and  finally  in  July  a 
few  positive  lines  declared  that  his  Majesty  did  not 
wish  to  protect  the  designs  of  Burr.2  Interested  as 
Cevallos  and  Godoy  were  by  Yrujo's  dispatches,  they 
scented  danger  in  the  obviously  deceitful  intrigue.  The 
truth  was,  Spain  had  her  hands  already  full,  and  it 
would  have  been  fatuous  for  her  to  have  become  in 
volved  in  an  adventure  in  the  wilds  of  America  which 
might  have  led  to  further  reprisals. 

On  the  side  of  Great  Britain  a  worse  outcome  at 
tended  the  endeavors  of  the  conspirators.  For  almost 
two  years  Burr  had  maintained  relations  with  Merry, 
but  at  the  end  he  had  only  his  good  wishes — not  one  of 
the  cabinets  had  even  so  much  as  deigned  to  reply  to 
his  solicitations.  And  to  close  this  phase  of  Burr's 
consummate  intrigue,  Merry  was  recalled  by  Charles 
James  Fox,  Chief  in  the  "Ministry  of  all  the  Talents/' 
who  sent  out  in  his  place  David  Montague  Erskine. 
In  one  of  the  last  dispatches  of  Merry,  dated  Novem 
ber  2,  1806,  he  related  the  incidents  of  his  parting 
interview  with  Burr:3 — 

"I  saw  this  gentleman  [Burr]  for  the  last  time  at  this 
place  [Washington]  in  the  month  of  June  last,  when  he 
made  particular  inquiry  whether  I  had  received  any 
answer  from  my  Government  to  the  propositions  he  had 
requested  me  to  transmit  to  them,  and  lamented  exceed 
ingly  that  I  had  not,  because  he,  and  the  persons  con 
nected  with  him  at  New  Orleans,  would  now,  though 

Cevallos  to  Yrujo,  March  28,  1806;  MSS.  Spanish  Archives. 
2Cevallos  to  Yrujo,  July  12,  1806;  MSS.  Spanish  Archives. 
3Merry   to    C.    J.    Fox,    November   2,    1806;    MSS.    British 
Archives. 


70     THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

very  reluctantly,  be  under  the  necessity  of  addressing 
themselves  to  the  French  and  Spanish  governments.  He 
added,  however,  that  the  disposition  of  the  inhabitants  of 
the  Western  country,  and  particularly  Louisiana,  to  sepa 
rate  themselves  from  the  American  Union  was  so  strong 
that  the  attempt  might  be  made  with  every  prospect  of 
success  without  any  foreign  assistance  whatever;  and 
his  last  words  to  me  were  that,  with  or  without  such 
support,  it  certainly  would  be  made  very  shortly.  From 
these  and  other  circumstances  I  have  little  or  no  doubt  of 
this  enterprise  being  upon  the  point  of  execution.  From 
a  circumstantial  statement  of  the  letter  to  which  I  have 
alluded  in  my  other  dispatch,  of  a  large  sum  of  money 
having  arrived  in  the  Western  country  from  New 
Orleans,  it  may  be  inferred,  that  offers  have  been  made 
to  France  and  Spain,  and  that  they  are  lending  their 
assistance  to  the  undertaking.  There  seems  also  reason 
to  suspect  that  the  arrival  of  so  large  a  body  of  Spanish 
troops  and  the  force  which  is  expected  added  to  the 
present  state  of  inactivity  may  well  be  connected  with 
the  object." 

Merry  marveled  that  the  Government  should  have 
remained  "so  long  in  ignorance  of  the  intended  design." 
It  was  equally  marvelous  that  after  his  long  acquaint 
ance  with  Burr  he  should  have  thought  him  acting  in 
concert  with  France  and  Spain.  The  truth  was  that 
Merry  with  all  his  information  was  more  ignorant  of 
what  was  actually  brewing  than  Jefferson;  and  it 
would  have  been  far  more  ingenuous  to  have  confessed 
that  he  was  now  satisfied  that  Burr,  from  his  conflict 
ing  stories,  was  untrustworthy,  and  that  his  object  was 
involved  in  mystery.  But  Merry  never  awakened  to 
the  fact  that  the  deception  practiced  on  him  had  been 
complete. 

Disastrous  as  his  intrigues  had  proved  in  the  East 


BURR'S  INTRIGUES  71 

Burr  was  nothing  daunted,  and  set  about  raising  funds 
from  various  individuals,  among  others  Blennerhassett, 
Smith  and  Ogden  of  Miranda  fame,  and  his  own  son- 
in-law,  Joseph  Alston  of  South  Carolina,  rich  in  slaves 
and  plantations.  In  this  way  it  was  hoped  enough 
might  be  collected  to  start  the  expedition,  and  for  the 
rest,  the  spoils  of  the  territories  of  Spain  would  make 
provision. 


CHAPTER     IV. 

Plans  and  Preparations 

* 

WHEN  the  summer  of  1806  was  well  under 
way  it  was  plain  to  Burr  that  his  hope  of 
deluding  England  into  advancing  money  for 
his  project  must  be  abandoned;  likewise  the  failure 
of  the  imposture  tried  on  Yrujo  no  longer  admitted  of 
doubt.  The  only  ray  of  consolation  came  from  the 
far  West  where  the  Spaniards  were  reported  to  be 
encroaching  on  American  soil.  The  cry  of  war  again 
rang  through  the  country ;  and  it  soon  became  known 
that  specific  orders  had  been  sent  to  General  Wilkinson 
to  drive  the  enemy  beyond  the  Sabine  at  any  cost — and 
that  meant  the  beginning  of  the  long-delayed  struggle ! 
The  match  for  igniting  the  conflict  was  in  the  hands 
of  General  Wilkinson — would  he  apply  it  ?  Both  Day 
ton  and  Burr  were  doubtful.  Whether  he  would  con 
tinue  his  part  or  desert  it  depended  wholly  on  circum 
stances.  They  knew  he  would  act  for  what  appeared 
to  be  his  own  advantage,  regardless  of  affiliations  or 
oaths,  regardless  of  traditions  or  friendships.  They 
had  from  their  intimate  association  with  him  learned 
his  weaknesses,  and  it  was  only  by  pandering  to  them 
that  they  hoped  to  retain  his  allegiance.  He  had  writ 
ten  rarely,  had  raised  objections,  and  had  made  condi 
tions  which  were  seemingly  hard  to  overcome.  He  had 
sent  a  letter  to  Burr  in  October,  1805,  which  was 
"deemed  very  silly" ;  and  finally  another  dated  May 

72 


PLANS  AND  PREPARATIONS          jg 

1 3th  which  Burr  alleged  that  he  destroyed  at  Wilkin- 
son's  request.  The  General  was  at  the  moment  dis 
patching  troops  to  the  Sabine  frontier  and  expecting  to 
be  ordered  thither  himself.  That  he  would  there  pre 
cipitate — legitimately  or  otherwise — the  conflict  was 
the  anxious  hope  of  the  leading  conspirators,  who  now 
proceeded  to  alarm  him  for  his  office,  which  the  Presi 
dent  was  on  the  verge  of  assigning  to  another,  and  to 
beguile  him  with  fictions  as  to  the  means  and  assistance 
which  were  expected.  All  the  false  batteries  of  Burr 
and  Dayton  were  trained  on  Wilkinson's  position. 
Flagrant  as  the  procedure  was,  they  had  gone  too  far 
to  retreat.  To  the  General  Dayton  wrote  briefly,  and 
his  nephew,  Peter  V.  Ogden,  was  intrusted  with  the 
letter,  which  was  dated  July  24th : 

"It  is  now  well  ascertained  that  you  are  to  be  dis 
placed  in  next  session.  Jefferson  will  affect  to  yield 
reluctantly  to  the  public  sentiment,  but  yield  he  will. 
Prepare  yourself,  therefore,  for  it.  You  know  the  rest. 
You  are  not  a  man  to  despair,  or  even  despond,  especially 
when  such  prospects  offer  in  another  quarter.  Are  you 
ready?  Are  your  numerous  associates  ready?  Wealth 
and  glory !  Louisiana  and  Mexico !  I  shall  have  time 
to  receive  a  letter  from  you  before  I  set  out  for  Ohio — 
OHIO/' 

With  Ogden  went  Samuel  Swartwout,  the  younger 
brother  of  Robert,  marshal  of  New  York,  who  bore  a 
letter  from  Burr  to  Wilkinson,  which  is  celebrated  as 
being  the  key  to^  the  conspiracy.  Its  date  was  July 
29th.  The  original  version  of  it  will  never  be  known, 
as  it  was  altered  and  deciphered  in  various  ways  by 
Wilkinson,  who,  four  months  after  its  receipt,  auda 
ciously  said  to  Jefferson,  "I  have  not  yet  taken  time  to 


74     THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

•*>2 

render  [it]  to  my  satisfaction."1  Such  an  admission 
was  rendered  more  astonishing  by  his  subsequent  false 
swearing  concerning  it  at  Richmond.  The  famous 
document,  as  it  is  generally  accepted,  reads  as  fol 
lows  : — 

"Your  letter,  postmarked  thirteenth  May,  is  received. 
At  length  I  have  obtained  funds,  and  have  actually  com 
menced.  The  Eastern  detachments,  from  different  points 
and  under  different  pretences,  will  rendezvous  on  the 
Ohio  first  of  November.  Everything  internal  and  ex 
ternal  favors  our  views.  Naval  protection  of  England 
is  secured.  TnpUon  is  going  to  Jamaica  to  arrange  with 
the  admiral  on  that  station.  It  will  meet  us  at  the  Missis 
sippi.  England,  a  navy  of  the  United  States,  are  ready 
to  join,  and  final  orders  are  given  to  my  friends  and  fol 
lowers.  It  will  be  a  host  of  choice  spirits.  Wilkinson 
shall  be  second  to  Burr  only ;  Wilkinson  shall  dictate  the 
rank  and  promotion  of  his  officers.  Burr  will  proceed 
westward  first  August,  never  to  return.  With  him  goes 
his  daughter ;  her  husband  will  follow  in  October,  with  a 
corps  of  worthies.  Send  forthwith  an  intelligent  and 
confidential  friend  with  whom  Burr  may  confer ;  he  shall 
return  immediately  with  further  interesting  details ;  this 
is  essential  to  concert  and  harmony  of  movement.  Send 
a  list  of  all  persons  known  to  Wilkinson  west  of  the 
mountains  who  could  be  useful,  with  a  note  delineating 
their  characters.  By  your  messenger  send  me  four  or 
five  commissions  of  your  officers,  which  you  can  borrow 
under  any  pretence  you  please;  they  shall  be  returned 
faithfullyr  Already  are  orders  given  to  the  contractor  to 
forward  six  months'  provisions  to  points  Wilkinson  may 
name;  this  shall  not  be  used  until  the  last  moment,  and 
then  under  proper  injunctions.  Our  object,  my  dear 
friend,  is  brought  to  a  point  so  long  desired.  Burr  guar 
antees  the  result  with  his  life  and  honor,  with  the  lives 
and  honor  and  the  fortunes  of  hundreds,  the  best  blood 
of  our  country.  Burr's  plan  of  operation  is  to  move  down 

'Wilkinson  to  Jefferson,  Feb.  17,  1807;  Letters  in  Relation. 


PLANS  AND  PREPARATIONS         75 

rapidly  from  the  Falls,  on  the  fifteenth  of  November,  with 
the  first  five  hundred  or  a  thousand  men,  in  light  boats 
now  constructing  for  that  purpose ;  to  be  at  Natchez 
between  the  fifth  and  fifteenth  of  December,  there  to  meet 
you;  there  to  determine  whether  it  will  be  expedient  in 
the  first  instance  to  seize  on  or  pass  by  Baton  Rouge.  On 
receipt  of  this  send  Burr  an  answer.  Draw  on  Burr  for 
all  expenses,  etc.  The  people  of  the  country  to  which  we 
are  going  are  prepared  to  receive  us ;  their  agents,  now 
with  Burr,  say  that  if  we  will  protect  their  religion,  and 
will  not  subject  them  to  a  foreign  Power,  that  in  three  " 
weeks  all  will  be  settled.  The  gods  invite  us  to  glory  and 
fortune ;  it  remains  to  be  seen  whether  we  deserve  the 
boon.  The  bearer  of  this  goes  express  to  you.  He  is  a 
man  of  inviolable  honor  and  perfect  discretion,  formed 
to  execute  rather  than  project,  capable  of  relating  facts 
with  fidelity,  and  incapable  of  relating  them  otherwise; 
he  is  thoroughly  informed  of  the  plans  and  intentions  of 
Burr,  and  will  disclose  to  you  as  far  as  you  require,  and 
no  further.  He  has  imbibed  a  reverence  for  your  char 
acter,  and  may  be  embarrassed  in  your  presence ;  put  him 
at  ease,  and  he  will  satisfy  you." 

This  letter  has  been  grossly  misinterpreted.  With 
all  Burr's  misrepresentations  there  is  not  the  faintest 
hint  that  New  Orleans  was  to  be  sacrificed ;  no  allusion 
to  a  convention  which  was  to  be  called  for  the  purpose 
of  declaring  the  independence  of  the  Western  States — 
a  point  which  had  borne  great  weight  in  the  Spanish 
and  English  intrigues ; — but  we  are  told  plainly  that  an 
attack  was  to  be  made  on  the  Spanish  possessions,  pos 
sibly  beginning  with  West  Florida  at  Baton  Rouge. 
If  policy  dictated,  which  Wilkinson  was  to  decide,  that 
Baton  Rouge  should  remain  unmolested,  they  would 
pass  on — and  to  no  other  place  than  Mexico.  "The 
people  of  the  country  to  which  we  are  going  are  pre 
pared  to  receive  us;  their  agents,  now  with  Burr,  say 


76     THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

that  if  we  will  protect  their  religion,  and  will  not  sub 
ject  them  to  a  foreign  power,  that  in  three  weeks  all 
will  be  settled."  There  had  been  Spanish  agents  with 
**f-  iBurr,  and  one  Fernandez  had  contracted  in  Philadel 
phia  for  a  quantity  of  type  destined  for  Mexico  and  cast 
for  the  Spanish  language.1  And  we  shall  see  that  ther.e 
were  other  Mexicans  interested  in  the  cause.  It  was 
only  in  the  matter  of  his  resources  that  Burr  attempted 
deception. 

Toward  the  end  of  July,  Ogden  and  Swartwout 
started  on  their  journey.  A  little  later  Bollman  sailed 
for  New  Orleans  bearing  a  duplicate  of  Burr's  letter 
to  Wilkinson,  which  the  General  received  in  due  season. 
The  first  week  in  August,  Burr — accompanied  by  his 
daughter,  a  Colonel  De  Pestre,  who  had  suffered  in  the 
French  Revolution,  and  who  now  lived  in  New  Jersey, 
and  a  few  friends  and  servants — followed  Ogden  and 
Swartwout  over  the  Alleghanies.  While  stopping  in 
Pittsburg,  August  22d,  Burr  and  De  Pestre  visited 
Colonel  George  Morgan,  who  resided  near  Cannons- 
burg,  fifteen  miles  distant;  there,  during  the  progress 
of  the  dinner,  Burr  talked  volubly.  The  Morgans 
afterwards  testified  that  he  observed  that  with  two 
hundred  men  the  President  and  Congress  could  be 
driven  into  the  Potomac;  that  with  five  hundred  New 
York  City  might  be  taken;  and  also,  they  admitted, 
averred  in  a  jocular  way  that  a  "separation  of  the 
I  States  must  ensue  as  a  natural  consequence  in  four  or 
five  years."2 


'Duane  to  Jefferson,  December  8,  1806;  Jefferson  MSS. 
'Carpenter's  Trial  of  Burr,  i.,  497. 


PLANS  AND  PREPARATIONS          77 

Apart  from  the  utter  nonsense  of  the  first  two 
propositions — which  no  sane  man  could  have  seriously 
uttered — a  natural  separation  of  the  States  in  the 
course  of  time  was  not  in  harmony  with  Burr's  precipi 
tate  measures.  When  Burr  had  gone,  Colonel  Morgan 
invited  the  Chief-Justice  of  Pennsylvania,  Presley 
Neville,  and  Samuel  Roberts  to  hear  his  account  of  the 
meeting  with  the  ex-Vice-President.  The  two  latter 
wrote  conjointly  to  Madison  that  "To  give  a  correct 
written  statement  of  these  conversations  would  perhaps 
be  as  unnecessary  as  it  would  be  difficult.  .  .  .  Indeed, 
according  to  our  informants,  much  more  was  to  be  cal 
culated  from  the  manner  in  which  things  were  said, 
and  hints  given,  than  from  the  words  used."  While 
predicting  the  separation  of  the  States  in  the  course  of 
four  or  five  years,  Burr  also  spoke  of  a  wide  field  about 
to  be  opened  for  talented  and  military  men.1  The  Mor 
gans  forgot  to  relate  this  fact  at  Richmond.2  More 
over,  George  Morgan,  in  a  letter  to  the  President  in 
January,  1807,  after  referring  to  the  incident  of  the 
above  meeting  in  which  "I  and  my  sons  had  opened  to 
them  [Neville  and  Roberts]  our  opinions  of  Colonel 

Seville  and  Roberts  to  Madison,  October  7,  1806;  Letters 
in  Relation. 

2The  Morgans  went  out  of  their  way  to  show  the  President 
that  they  were  his  humble  servants.  When  the  trial  was  over  at 
Richmond  they  returned  through  Washington  and  left  a  note  at 
the  White  House :  "The  three  Morgans  of  Morganza  have,  from 
respect  for  Mr.  Jefferson,  called  at  his  residence  although  know 
ing  him  to  be  from  the  city."  It  may  be  interesting  to  note  that 
this  family  had  once  attempted  to  found  a  colony  at  New  Madrid, 
a  site  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio,  under  the  aegis  of  the 
Spanish  Crown;  and  had  been  vainly  pressing  before  Congress 
since  1784  a  claim  to  lands  in  Indiana,  said  to  have  been  bought 
of  the  Indians.  (Journal  of  Congress,  iv.,  341.)  Was  it  possible 
they  had  seized  this  opportunity  to  curry  favor  with  Jefferson? 


78     THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

Burr's  views/'1  questioned  the  patriotism  of  Neville, 
soldier  of  the  Revolution  and  leader  of  the  forces  sent 
by  President  Washington  to  quell  the  Pennsylvania 
riots.  Neville  had  established  a  rendezvous  for  the 
"genteelly  disaffected."  Morgan  likewise  noted  that  it 
was  said  a  former  aide  of  his  was  frequently  there ;  and 
that— 

"a  Mr.  Spence  or  Spencer,  of  the  American  navy,  has 
lately  been  with  him  [Neville],  and  declared  the  disaffec 
tion  of  every  officer  in  it.  Being  too  far  advanced  in  life 
to  take  an  active  part  in  these  inquiries,  I  leave  them  to 
my  sons ;  who,  I  am  happy  to  say,  have  imbibed  the  prin 
ciples  of  their  father  and  of  Thomas  Jefferson  from  the 
commencement  of  our  revolutionary  war  to  the  present 
day." 

Leaving  Pittsburg,  Burr  and  party  continued  to 
Belpre,  and  at  the  appointed  time  set  foot  on  the  island 
in  the  Ohio,  where  a  most  enthusiastic  reception  was 
tendered  them.  Blennerhassett,  who  had  devoted  his 
life  to  science  and  music,  had  been  at  last  called  into 
action  by  his  failing  fortune  and  maturing  family.  He 
had,  apart  from  his  island  property,  about  thirty  thou 
sand  dollars  invested ;  but  from  this  he  derived  so  little 
income  that  he  was  always  pressed  for  money.  He 
was  eager  to  reestablish  himself  by  some  bold  stroke  of 
speculation.  Such  an  opportunity  Burr  at  once  pre 
sented  in  the  purchase  of  the  Washita  lands,  a  Spanish 
grant  to  Baron  Bastrop,  in  the  heart  of  Louisiana- 
areas  in  time  to  be  worth  their  millions.  Moreover,  be 
yond  this  positive  investment  was  another  and  greater 
possibility.  In  the  contingency  of  a  war  with  Spain, 

Morgan  to  Jefferson,  January  19,  1807;  Letters  in  Relation. 


PLANS  AND  PREPARATIONS          79 

which  was  deemed  inevitable,  from  the  position  they 
should  occupy  on  the  frontier,  the  route  was  open  to 
the  wealth  and  empire  of  Mexico.  Blennerhassett  was 
captivated,  borne  away  with  the  promise  of  things. 
Preparations  were  begun  without  delay;  the  last  days 
of  August  found  Burr  and  his  associate  in  Marietta, 
where  they  purchased,  through  the  firm  of  Dudley 
Woodbridge  &  Company,  one  hundred  barrels  of  pork 
and  let  the  contract  to  Colonel  Barker — whose  estab 
lishment  was  seven  miles  above  the  town  on  the  Mus- 
kingum — for  fifteen  boats  to  be  delivered  the  ninth  of 
December.  This  fact  alone  explodes  the  oft-repeated 
statement  that  Burr  planned  to  move  down  the  Ohio 
by  November  15th.1 

During  one  of  these  visits  to  Marietta,  early  in 
September,  Blennerhassett  showed  Woodbridge  a  map 
of  Mexico,  "stating  its  advantages,  wealth,  fertility, 
and  healthiness,"  and  asked  him  to  join  the  expedi 
tion.  Woodbridge  inferred  from  this,  he  said  at  the 
trial,2  that  the  enterprise  was  aimed  at  Mexico.  Blen 
nerhassett  in  his  prison  at  Richmond,  when  told  of 
this  evidence,  set  down  in  his  Journal,  "He  has  not  yet 
told  all  the  truth — having  suppressed  my  communica 
tion  to  him  of  our  designs  being  unequivocally  against 
Mexico." 

The  island  became  forthwith  the  center  of  multi 
farious  activities.  A  kiln  was  erected  for  drying  corn, 
which  was  ground  into  meal  and  made  ready  for 
shipment ;  goods  were  purchased ;  and  the  effects  of  the 

JCf.  Adams,  iii.,  268. 
'Carpenter's  Trial,  i.,  518. 


8o     THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

household  were  packed  in  preparation  for  removal, 
for  Mrs.  Blennerhassett  and  the  two  sons  were  also 
going.  Blennerhassett,  in  his  enthusiasm,  talked  much 
of  the  expedition  which  was  to  make  them  all  rich ; 
and  shortly  there  were  many  as  enthusiastic  as  Blenner 
hassett  himself. 

"A  number  of  young  men,"  said  a  correspondent  of 
Pittsburg,  "inhabitants  of  this  town,  amounting  to  seven, 
have  set  out  with  an  intention  to  join  Colonel  Burr  in 
his  expedition  against  Mexico,  among  whom  is  Morgan 
Neville,  son  of  General  Presley  Neville,  and  it  is  said, 
with  the  knowledge  and  consent  of  his  father.  .  .  . 
Also  Thomas  Butler,  son  of  the  late  Colonel  Butler ;  Mr. 
Forward,  printer  and  editor  of  the  Tree  of  Liberty,  and 
publisher  of  the  United  States  laws  by  authority,  after 
having  made  preparations  was  prevented  from  going  by 
sickness.  .  .  .  General  Neville  has  used  his  influence 
to  promote  it.  Wilkins  and  his  sons  warmly  advocated 
it."  l 

To  this  paragraph  the  editor  of  the  National  Intel 
ligencer  appended  the  following  comment : 

"From  the  above  letter  it  would  seem  that  some  of 
the  first  characters  in  Pittsburg  are  implicated  in  the  Burr 
conspiracy.     But  we  cannot  believe  that  they  would  ever  j 
engage  in  a  treasonable  plot  against  their  country.  Colonel  I 
Neville  was  a  conspicuous  character  in  our  Revolutionary 
War — he  was  an  aide  to  the  Marquis  de  La  Fayette  and 
in  every  situation  in  which  he  was  placed  has  discharged 
his  trust  with  fidelity  to  his  country  and  honor  to  himself. 
.    .    .    Yet  the  sons  of  those  men  are  said  to  be  concerned, 
and  that  too  with  the  knowledge  of  their  fathers.     If 
this  be  the  case,  we  cannot  believe  any  treason  is  con 
templated.     Men  of  tried  worth  and  known  patriotism  \ 
would  never  tarnish  their  well-earned   reputations  and  1 

^Orleans  Gazette,  January  27,  1807. 


PLANS  AND  PREPARATIONS          81 

risk  their  all  in  an  enterprise  in  which  they  have  nothing 
to  gain,  and  where  their  lives  would  be  jeopardized." 

Apart  from  the  enlistment  of  recruits  and  manifold 
duties,  Blennerhassett  is  credited  with  having  contrib 
uted  a  series  of  articles  to  the  Ohio  Gazette  setting 
forth  the  expediency  of  a  separation  of  the  Western 
from  the  Eastern  States.  By  whomever  written,  the 
articles  could  hardly  have  been  issued  in  the  interest  of 
the  conspiracy.  For  what  service  was  a  cold,  cogent 
piece  of  argumentation — whose  conclusion  was  that  in 
the  course  of  years  natural  causes  would  sever  the  West 
from  the  rest  of  the  Union — expected  to  render  the 
project  of  Burr,  which,  from  all  indications,  was  not  to 
undergo  a  period  of  incubation  ? 

Meantime  Burr  had  traveled  many  miles.  Septem 
ber  4,  1806,  he  entered  Cincinnati,  and  became  the 
guest  of  John  Smith.  He  remained  there  several  days, 
talking  much  of  his  settlement  on  the  Washita,  of  the 
threatening  war,  and  of  the  expedition  to  Mexico. 
The  intriguer  next  crossed  the  Ohio  to  Lexington,  and 
then  passed  into  Tennessee,  stopping  again  with  An 
drew  Jackson.  The  approaching  Spanish  war  was  on 
every  tongue.  Parton  says,  "Every  militiaman  in  the 
West  was  furbishing  his  accoutrements  and  awaiting 
the  summons  to  the  field."  At  a  public  dinner  given 
Burr  in  Nashville,  September  27th,  Jackson  offered  the 
old  toast:  "Millions  for  defense;  not  one  cent  for 
tribute." 

Scarcely  had  the  ex-Vice-President  reached  Lex 
ington  on  his  return  when  Jackson's  proclamation  of 
October  4th  to  the  Tennessee  militia  appeared  in  print. 


82     THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

He  stated  that  the  menacing  attitude  of  the  Spanish 
forces  "already  encamped  within  the  limits  of  our  Gov 
ernment"  required  that  the  militia  should  be  ready  for 
instant  duty.  He  recited  that  the  enemy  had  captured 
several  citizens  of  the  United  States;  had  cut  down  our 
flag  in  the  Caddo  nation ;  had  compelled  a  party  in  the 
employ  of  the  Government  to  return  from  exploring 
the  Red  River;  "and  had  taken  up  an  unjustifiable  and 
insulting  position  east  of  the  river  Sabine,  in  the  Terri 
tory  of  Orleans."  War  was  regarded  as  all  but  begun. 
.  Jackson  communicated  to  the  President  his  willingness 
;  to  serve  the  country,  and  those  who  have  followed  his 
career  know  what  that  willingness  meant.  Jefferson 
replied  December  3d  to  this  first  volunteer  for  the 
Spanish  war:1 — 

"Always  a  friend  to  peace,  and  believing  it  to  pro 
mote  eminently  the  happiness  and  prosperity  of  mankind, 
I  am  ever  unwilling  that  it  should  be  disturbed  as  long 
as  the  rights  and  interests  of  the  nation  can  be  preserved. 
But  whenever  hostile  aggressions  on  these  require  a 
resort  to  war,  we  must  meet  our  duty,  and  convince  the 
world  that  we  are  just  friends  and  brave  enemies." 

Jefferson  chose  still  to  philosophize,  to  remain  non 
committal;  but  to  have  been  frank  he  ought  to  have 
said  to  Jackson  that  for  the  present  all  idea  of  war 
with  Spain  had  been  abandoned ;  that  orders  had  gone 
forward  to  Wilkinson  on  the  Sabine  to  remain  abso 
lutely  on  the  defensive,  and  that  he  believed  a  truce 
had  already  been  agreed  upon  by  the  contending 
armies. 

Jefferson  to  Jackson,  December  3,  1806;  Jefferson  MSS. 


PLANS  AND  PREPARATIONS          83 

The  first  week  in  October  Burr  met  at  Lexington 
Blennerhassett,  Theodosia  Alston  and  her  husband. 
They  had  come  away  from  the  island,  leaving  it  in  the 
care  of  Mrs.  Blennerhassett.  Henceforth  Lexington 
was  to  be  the  rendezvous,  and  there  the  organization 
was  to  be  perfected.  The  purchase  of  the  Bastrop 
lands  was  now  effected. 

While  Louisiana  was  under  the  Spanish  flag,  Baron 
de  Bastrop  had  secured  the  grant  of  a  tract  of  land, 
comprising  about  one  million  acres,  situated  in  what  is 
now  North  Louisiana  on  the  Washita  (Ouachita) 
River.  Three-fifths  of  this  had  been  obtained  by 
Colonel  Charles  Lynch  of  Kentucky;  but  there  were 
still  some  outstanding  debts  against  the  grant  which  he 
could  not  meet.  At  this  juncture  Burr  contracted  to 
take  the  whole  under  the  following  stipulations: 
"Colonel  Burr  was  to  pay  Edward  Livingston,"  testi 
fied  Lynch,1  "the  amount  of  my  purchase ;  he  also  paid 
me  four  or  five  thousand  dollars  in  money,  and  was  to 
take  up  certain  paper  which  I  valued  at  thirty  thousand 
dollars  more."  The  deeds  were  recorded  in  Lexington, 
and  now  in  truth  a  long  step  forward  in  the  programme 
had  been  made. 

The  possession  of  the  Washita  lands  was  a  matter 
of  secondary  importance,  and  to  be  made  use  of  only 
in  case  of  emergency.  Should  the  Government  suspect 
them  in  their  designs  on  Mexico,  they  would  draw  the 
cloak  of  settler  about  themselves ;  should  the  Spaniards 
drive  them  back,  they  were  citizens  of  a  Republic  capa 
ble  of  defending  them.  It  was  above  all  something  tan- 
Evidence  of  Colonel  Lynch,  Annals  of  Congress,  1807-08, 
P-  657. 


84    THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

gible:  to  the  farmer,  wide  bottom  lands  with  a  rich 
market  in  New  Orleans ;  to  the  trader,  unknown  tribes 
of  Indians;  to  the  daring,  unexplored  forests;  to  the 
adventurers,  a  rendezvous  bordering  the  El  Dorados 
of  the  Spanish  provinces,  whence  they  might  sally 
when  occasion  offered.  Glittering  possibilities ! 

Recruits  were  now  daily  added  to  the  list,  and  all 
attempts  to  disguise  the  purpose  of  the  associates  aban 
doned.  "The  impression/'  says  Putnam,1  "to  some  ex 
tent  prevailed  that  Burr's  movement  and  purposes  had 
some  sanction  of  the  general  Government,  and  that  in 
so  far  as  they  were  directed  against  the  crafty  enemies 
of  the  Western  settlements  they  deserved  to  meet  with 
cooperation."  According  to  Jefferson,  Burr  would  ap 
proach  men,  propose  his  scheme,  and,  if  they  did  not 
care  to  engage  unless  the  Government  approved,  he 
would  show  a  forged  letter  purporting  to  be  from  Dear 
born,  which  countenanced  the  expedition,  and  add  that 
because  of  the  President's  absence  he  had  not  sanc 
tioned  it.2  In  a  letter  of  January  3,  1807,  to  Wilkinson 
Jefferson  said  that  persons  had  been  enlisted  with  the 
"express  assurance  that  the  projected  enterprise  was 
against  Mexico,  and  secretly  authorized  by  this  Gov 
ernment.  Many  expressly  enlisted  in  the  name  of  the 
United  States."3  That  statement  approximated  the 
truth,  if  indeed  it  were  not  wholly  true.  Calculating 
on  war,  Burr  knew  the  expedition  would  be  counten 
anced;  or,  if  peace  ensued,  Government  might  over- 
Putnam's  History  of  Middle  Tennessee,  p.  581. 
'Jefferson  to  Hay,  June  5,  1807;  Jefferson  MSS. 
sjefferson  to  Wilkinson,  January  3,  1807;  Annals  of  Con 
gress,  1807-08,  p.  580. 


PLANS  AND  PREPARATIONS          85 

look  the  preparations  as  in  the  case  of  Miranda.  Says 
Perkins  in  his  Annals  of  the  West,  "It  appears  that  he 
[Burr]  meant  to  invade  Mexico,  whether  war  or  peace 
ensued  between  Spain  and  the  United  States."  Gra 
ham,  the  Government's  agent,  who  followed  Burr 
southward,  also  bore  witness  to  this  purpose  in  the 
people,  the  following  interview  with  Burr  taking  place 
at  Natchez  :* — 

"I  mentioned  to  Colonel  Burr  that  I  had  heard  in  the 
Western  country  of  a  considerable  number  of  men,  per 
haps  two  thousand,  being  collected  for  the  purpose  of 
invading  Mexico.  His  reply  was  that  he  supposed  that 
event  was  in  the  case  of  war  with  Spain.  I  told  him 
no,  that  I  had  not  understood  it  as  depending  on  that 
condition/' 

Had  Burr  at  that  moment  been  confronted  with  his 
three  maps,2  left  in  the  possession  of  Dr.  Cummins,  he 
would  have  been  put  to  some  confusion  to  explain  upon 
what  contingency  he  had  calculated  to  lead  his  expedi 
tion  to  Mexico.  There  is  no  hushing  such  clamorous 
witnesses,  and  Burr  must  have  confessed  that  he  had 
counted  primarily  on  Wilkinson  and  war,  and  finally 
on  the  silent  acquiescence  of  the  authorities.  The 
secret  of  these  maps  in  broad  outline  is  this :  that  noth 
ing  less  than  the  Empire  of  Spain  in  North  America 
was  at  stake.  One  map  shows  that  Empire  stretch 
ing  away  to  the  Californias  and  to  the  Isthmus;  the 
second  is  an  admiralty  chart  of  the  Gulf  coast  of  that 
country,  indicating  inlets,  islands,  and  depths,  which 
could  have  been  of  service  only  to  a  sea  expedition; 

testimony  of  John  Graham,  Annals  of  Congress,  1807-08, 
p.  490. 

aConsult  maps  in  the  possession  of  Mrs.  T.  C.  Wordin. 


86     THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

the  third  (here  reproduced)  tells  its  tale  in  the  de 
tailed  topographical  description  of  the  region  between 
Vera  Cruz  and  Mexico  City!  Wilkinson,  Adair, 
Truxton,  and  others  confessed  that  Vera  Cruz  was 
the  objective  point  of  the  sea  expedition — the  maps 
reinforce  them.  Had  Burr's  project  gone  forward,  the 
world  might  have  been  treated  to  a  spectacle  in  some  of 
its  aspects  recalling  the  story  of  Cortez.  For  was  not 
Burr  to  profit  by  internal  dissensions  to  conquer  the 
land  where  for  three  centuries  the  Spaniards  had  ruled 
as  tyrants?  And  were  not  the  men  he  hoped  to  lead 
of  that  rare  breed  known  as  adelantados  and  conquis- 
tadores — adventurers  and  filibusters? 

The  absorbing  plan  of  invading  the  Spanish  posses- 
sions  was  to  be  determined  by  force  and  opportunity. 
The  idea  of  penetrating  the  neighboring  territories, 
of  making  conquests  of  them,  was  in  the  air  of  the 
time,  and  not  due  in  the  remotest  sense  to  the  influ 
ence  of  Burr.  He  strove  merely  for  its  embodiment. 
Though  he  failed,  history  emphatically  shows  that  his 
plans  were  opportune,  and  that  their  wreck  was  due 
to  influences  he  had  failed  properly  to  estimate,  and 
chiefly  to  the  conduct  of  James  Wilkinson.  The  Span 
iards  believed  the  conspiracy  to  have  had  a  continuous 
existence,  crediting  it  with  the  revolutionizing  of  West 
Florida  in  1810,  and  a  little  later  with  having  served  as 
the  inspiration  for  the  Gutierrez-Magee  Expedition,1 
which  wrought  such  irremediable  destruction  in  the 
Province  of  Texas,  and  which  had  set  out  with  such 

'See   Texas  Historical   Quarterly   for  January,   1901 :    "The 
First  Period  of  the  Gutierrez-Magee  Expedition." 


PLANS  AND  PREPARATIONS          87 

high  hopes  of  cooperating  in  the  revolution  which 
raged  beyond  the  Rio  Grande.  It  was  in  the  opening 
year  of  our  second  war  with  Great  Britain  that — de 
spite  the  fact  that  there  was  room  in  the  army  for  all 
warlike  characters — adventurers  and  revolutionists  to 
the  number  of  five  hundred  gathered  along  the  Louisi 
ana  frontier  and  in  the  Neutral  Ground,  marched 
across  Texas,  annihilated  three  royalist  armies,  and 
held  the  province  until  dissensions  prepared  them  for 
destruction.  That  Burr  planned,  in  case  of  necessity,  to 
make  a  "neutral  ground"  of  his  Bastrop  lands  scarcely 
Admits  of  doubt;  many  of  the  followers  of  Magee  had 
been  his  loyal  partisans;  and  those  who  joined  in  the 
filibustering  enterprises  which  swept  westward  for  the 
next  half  century  were  his  disciples. 

Pursuing  his  tactics  Burr  wrote  to  Governor  Harri 
son  with  the  evident  intention  of  exciting  him,  as  he 
had  Jackson,  to  issue  a  proclamation  to  th'e  militia.  To 
keep  the  aggression  of  the  enemy  before  the  people  was 
to  raise  higher  their  passions. 

"By  the  hands  of  my  friend  and  relative,  Major,  West- 
cott,"  he  said  under  date  of  October  24th,  "you  will 
receive  a  newspaper  containing  the  orders  lately  issued 
by  General  Jackson  to  the  militia  of  West  Tennessee, 
being  the  division  under  his  command.  It  occurred  to 
me  that  you  might  deem  something  similar  to  be 
addressed  to  the  militia  of  Indiana  not  inexpedient  at 
this  moment,  and  that  the  perusal  of  this  production 
might  be  acceptable.  All  reflecting  m$n  consider  a  war 
with  Spain  to  be  inevitable ;  in  such  an  event,  I  think  you 
would  not  be  at  ease  as  an  idle  spectator.  If  it  should  be 
my  lot  to  be  employed,  which  there  is  reasorvto  expect, 


88     THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

it  would  be  my  highest  gratification  to  be  associated  with 
you."  l 

As  yet  everything  was  going  well;  not  only  were 
boats  being  built,  provisions  being  gathered,  and  re 
cruits  being  prepared,  but  fate  even  seemed  to  declare 
for  Burr.  Every  day  brought  more  warlike  tidings 
from  the  Sabine;  newer  encroachments  and  insults  of 
the  foe,  and  greater  prospect  of  a  violent  clash  between 
the  American  and  Spanish  armies  which  now  stood 
facing  each  other  across  the  Arroyo  Hondo.  It  is  plain 
from  his  letter  to  Governor  Harrison  that  Burr  mo 
mentarily  expected  Wilkinson  to  redeem  his  pledge 
that  a  war  could  and  would  be  brought  about.  Upon 
the  receipt  of  such  news  Burr's  banner  would  be  raised, 
and  Harrison,  Davis  Floyd,  Adair,  and  Jackson  would 
each  muster  a  regiment  for  an  independent  army  des 
tined  for  Mexico. 

October  6th,  two  days  after  the  appearance  of  Jack 
son's  proclamation,  a  mass  meeting  of  the  citizens  of 
Wood  County,  Virginia,  under  whose  jurisdiction  was 
Blennerhassett's  island,  condemned  the  "apparently 
hostile  movements  and  designs  of  a  certain  character 
[Burr]/'  Resolutions  were  passed  expressing  their 
attachment  to  the  President  of  the  United  States ;  and 
it  was  ordered  that  a  corps  of  militia  should  be  raised 
to  act  in  case  of  emergency. a 

Blennerhassett  was  absent  in  Kentucky,  having 
gone  there  with  the  Alstons  in  the  furtherance  of  the 
conspiracy,  whenfthese  hostile  expressions  were  uttered. 

Clark's  Proofs,  Ap.,  p.  16. 

"Moniteur  de  la  Louisiane,  December  31,  1806. 


PLANS  AND  PREPARATIONS          89 

His  absence,  however,  did  not  deter  the  boisterous 
militiamen  from  threatening  a  reprisal  upon  the  island. 
Mrs.  Blennerhassett  became  uneasy  and  sent  her  gar 
dener,  Peter  Taylor,  in  search  of  her  husband.  Octo 
ber  2Oth  he  set  out.  On  his  way  he  stopped  in  Cincin 
nati  to  inquire  of  Senator  John  Smith  the  whereabouts 
of  Blennerhassett.  Smith,  having  become  alarmed  at 
the  malignant  rumors  in  circulation,  seized  the  op 
portunity  to  send  a  note  to  Burr  demanding  an  ex 
planation. 

"I  was  greatly  surprised  and  really  hurt  by  the  un 
usual  tenor  of  your  letter  of  the  23d,"  Burr  vouchsafed 
in  answer  to  the  Senator,1  "and  I  hasten  to  reply  to  it, 
as  well  for  your  satisfaction  as  my  own.  If  there  exists 
any  design  to  separate  the  Western  from  the  Eastern 
States,  I  am  totally  ignorant  of  it.  I  never  harbored  or 
expressed  any  such  intention  to  any  one,  nor  did  any 
person  ever  intimate  such  design  to  me." 

From  Cincinnati  Taylor  rode  to  Lexington,  where, 
according  to  his  own  story,  he  saw  Burr  for  the  first 
time,  and  opened  his  acquaintance  with  the  warning, 
"If  you  come  up  our  way,  the  people  will  shoot  you." 
Taylor's  account  of  this  meeting  is  sufficient  to  dis-\ 
credit  him  utterly.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  plain  from 
his  evidence  that  Blennerhassett  had  told  him  what 
was  reserved  for  those  in  the  innermost  circle  of  the 
associates.  They  were  "going  to  take  Mexico,  one  of 
the  finest  and  richest  places  in  the  whole  world." 

"Colonel  Burr  would  be  the  King  of  Mexico,  and 
Mrs.  Alston,  daughter  of  Colonel  Burr,  was  to  be  Queen 
of  Mexico,  whenever  Colonel  Burr  died.  He  said  that 

aBurr  to  Smith,  October  26,  1806;  Senate  Reports,  p.  33. 


90     THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

Colonel  Burr  had  made  fortunes  for  many  in  his  time, 
but  none  for  himself;  but  now  he  was  going  to  make 
something  for  himself.  He  said  that  he  had  a  great  many 
friends  in  the  Spanish  territory ;  no  less  than  2,000 
Roman  Catholic  priests  were  engaged,  and  that  all  their 
friends  too  would  join,  if  once  he  could  get  to  them ;  that 
the  Spaniards,  like  the  French,  had  got  dissatisfied  with 
their  government,  and  wanted  to  swap  it." 

The  inhabitants  of  the  Spanish  colonies  were  indeed 
tired  of  their  Government.  This  was  so  manifestly  the 
case  in  West  Florida  that  even  the  faint-hearted  Clai- 
borne  thought  there  would  be  no  difficulty  in  acquiring 
the  territory.  "A  great  majority  of  the  people  of  the 
Baton  Rouge  settlement,"  he  said,  March  3,  1806,  to 
Jefferson,  "are  well  affected  to  the  United  States,  and 
anxious  for  a  change  of  government."1  The  history  of 
the  subversion  of  the  Spanish  rule  in  Mexico  adds  most 
effective  weight  to  this  testimony.  The  priests  were 
the  agitators  and  the  leaders  in  the  terrible  revolt  which 
began  in  September,  1810,  and  which  was  to  end  with 
Mexican  freedom.  Had  Burr  been  able  to  unite  the  ele 
ments  in  opposition  to  the  foreigner  in  Mexico,  then 
indeed  might  he  have  been  king ;  and  Wilkinson's  taunt 
in  a  letter  to  Jefferson  concerning  Burr's  overrunning 
of  Mexico — that  it  would  receive  a  new  master  in  the 
place  of  promised  liberty — would  have  been  full  of 
significance. 

The  news  reported  by  Mrs.  Blennerhassett  was  of 
sufficient  gravity  to  call  her  husband  away  from  the 
little  group  of  revolutionists — already  diminished  by 
the  return  of  the  Alston  family  to  South  Carolina — 

'Claiborne's  Journal,  p.  77. 


PLANS  AND  PREPARATIONS          91 

living  in  the  house  of  John  Jourdan  in  the  town  of 
Lexington.  Also  De  Pestre  had  taken  leave  of  Burr, 
and  the  rest  to  bear  reports  to  those  who  remained  in 
the  East,  and  to  draw  the  blindfold  tighter  around  the 
eyes  of  Yrujo.  He  was  to  pretend  that  the  revolution 
izing  of  the  States  was  progressing  rapidly,  and  to 
assure  the  Marquis  that  the  report  that  Mexico  was  to 
be  invaded  had  been  circulated  to  hide  the  main  design. 
But  before  De  Pestre  had  reached  his  destination  the 
Spanish  Minister  wrote  his  Government  a  long  dis 
patch  on  the  subject  r1 — 

"It  is  indubitable  that  Colonel  Burr  and  his  subordi 
nates  are  carrying  out  their  plan.  The  partial  discovery 
of  their  intentions  instead  of  deterring  has  only  confirmed 
them  in  the  revolution,  whose  success  alone  can  save 
them.  Some  of  his  associates  at  this  place  and  at  New 
York  are  going  to  meet  him,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the 
newspapers  already  comment  on  his  enterprise.  It  seems 
to  me  to  be  his  intention  to  profit  by  the  hostile  appear 
ance  on  the  Sabine  to  arm  his  friends  preliminary  to  the 
rupture  with  Spain.  I  am  confirmed  in  this  opinion  by 
a  proclamation  from  the  hand  of  one  General  Jackson  of 
Kentucky,  in  which  he  proposed  the  organization  of  the 
militia  to  chastise  the  insulting  Spaniards." 

So  ignorant  was  Yrujo  of  the  real  posture  of  af 
fairs  in  the  West,  he  could  not  conceive  that  such  a 
proclamation  truly  betokened  patriotism ;  it  was  to  him 
a  mere  subterfuge,  for  he  had  been  accustomed,  and  the 
conspirators  had  fostered  his  predilection,  to  think 
of  the  Westerners  as  openly  hostile  to  the  Union.  It 
never  occurred  to  Yrujo — the  proposition  was  too 
absurd — that  he  had  been  duped  in  order  that  an  army, 

'Yrujo  to  Cevallos,  November  10,  1806;  ( MSS.  Spanish 
Archives. 


92     THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

marshaled  for  the  conquest  of  his  Sovereign's  terri 
tories,  might  take  things  by  surprise. 

Burr's  force  was  to  consist  of  five  hundred  men, 
chiefly  from  New  York,  who  were  to  rendezvous  at 
Marietta.  Then,  continued  Yrujo : 

"Colonel  Burr  will  go  down  with  them  under  the  pre 
text  of  establishing  them  on  a  great  land  purchase  he  is 
supposed  to  have  made.  In  passing  Cincinnati  they 
expect  to  seize  five  thousand  stand  of  arms  which  the  Gov 
ernment  deposited  there  at  the  time  of  its  difference  with 
us  about  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi.  After  thus 
dropping  the  mask,  this  armed  troop  will  follow  down 
the  course  of  the  Mississippi.  Colonel  Burr  will  remain 
at  Natchez  till  the  Assembly  of  New  Orleans  has  met, 
which  will  happen  at  once;  and  in  this  meeting  (junta) 
they  will  declare  the  independence  of  the  Western  States, 
and  will  invite  Burr  to  place  himself  at  the  head  of  their 
Government.  He  will  accept  the  offer,  will  descend  to 
New  Orleans,  and  will  set  to  work,  clothed  in  a  character 
which  the  people  will  have  given  him.  I  understand  that 
Colonel  Burr  has  already  written  the  declaration  of  inde 
pendence,  and  that  it  is  couched  in  the  same  terms  that 
the  States  adopted  in  theirs  against  Great  Britain.  This 
circumstance  is  the  more  notable  inasmuch  as  the  actual 
President  was  the  person  who  drew  it  up  in  1776.  When 
Burr  made  the  project  of  acting  in  agreement  with  Eng 
land  and  seizing  the  Floridas,  he  expected  to  master  them 
with  troops  that  should  accompany  him  from  Baton 
Rouge.  Although  I  am  assured  that  this  project  is  aban 
doned,  and  that,  on  the  contrary,  he  wishes  to  live  on 
good  terms  with  Spain,  I  have  written  to  Governor  Folch 
of  West  Florida  to  be  on  his  guard ;  and  although  I  am 
persuaded  that,  by  means  of  Governor  Folch's  connection 
with  General  Wilkinson,  he  must  be  perfectly  informed 
of  the  state  of  things  and  of  Burr's  intentions,  I  shall 
write  to-day  or  to-morrow  another  letter  to  the  Governor 
of  Baton  Rouge  to  be  on  the  alert." 

It  is  puzzling  that  Yrujo  should  not  have  known 


PLANS  AND  PREPARATIONS         93 

that  Wilkinson's  term  of  pensioner  had  expired.  Had 
he  been  aware  of  this  fact  his  anxiety  for  the  safety  of 
the  southern  provinces  might  justly  have  increased, 
although  he  believed  the  governors  in  that  quarter  to 
be  well  informed  of  the  course  of  events  through  the 
press  of  New  Orleans  and  Natchez.  His  perplexity 
was  indeed  augmented  through  a  letter  from  Burr 
which  De  Pestre  delivered  about  November  27,  1806, 
preparatory  to  his  report:1 — 

"About  eight  days  ago,"  said  Yrujo  to  Cevallos, 
December  4th,  "a  former  French  officer,  one  of  Burr's  par 
tisans,  presented  himself  here;  he  is  just  from  Kentucky 
in  search  of  various  things  needful  to  the  enterprise.  .  .  . 
This  officer  brought  me  a  letter  of  recommendation  from 
Burr,  in  which  he  said  simply  that  the  bearer,  who  had 
recently  been  in  the  Western  States,  could  give  me  in 
formation  about  them  to  satisfy  my  curiosity.  The  date 
of  this  letter  was  Lexington,  October  25th." 

Yrujo  was  assured  that  all  was  going  well  with 
Burr's  affairs,  and  that  by  December  5th  the  adven 
turers  from  all  parts  would  concentrate  at  Marietta. 
The  body  of  the  message  ran  as  follows : 

"He  also  told  me,  on  the  part  of  the  Colonel,  that  1 
should  soon  hear  that  it  was  his  intention  to  attack 
Mexico,  but  that  I  was  not  to  believe  such  rumors ;  that 
on  the  contrary  his  plans  were  limited  to  the  emancipa 
tion  of  the  Western  States,  and  that  it  was  necessary  to 
circulate  this  rumor  in  order  to  hide  the  true  design  of 
his  armaments  and  of  the  assemblages  of  men  which 
could  no  longer  be  concealed;  that  Upper  and  Lower 
Louisiana,  the  States  of  Tennessee  and  Ohio,  stood  ready 
and  ripe  for  his  plans,  but  that  the  State  of  Kentucky  was 

JYrujo  to  Cevallos,  December  4,  1806;  MSS.  Spanish 
Archives. 


94     THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

much  divided ;  and  as  this  is  the  most  important  in 
numbers  and  population,  an  armed  force  must  be  pro 
cured  strong  enough  to  overawe  the  opposition.  He 
added,  on  Burr's  part,  that  as  soon  as  the  revolution 
should  be  complete,  he  would  treat  with  Spain  in  regard 
to  boundaries,  and  would  conclude  this  affair  to  her  entire 
satisfaction ;  meanwhile  he  wished  me  to  write  to  the 
Governor  of  West  Florida  to  diminish  the  burdens  of 
Americans  who  navigated  the  Mobile  River,  and  ask  him, 
when  the  explosion  should  take  place,  to  stop  the  courier 
or  couriers  which  the  friends  of  Government  might  dis 
patch,  since  it  was  desirable  to  delay  the  report  of  the 
happenings  in  the  West." 

However  successful  Burr  had  been  in  the  earlier 
phase  of  his  intrigue  with  Yrujo,  nothing  could  have 
been  plainer  to  the  Minister  than  that  the  conspirators, 
who  had  now  nothing  to  gain  from  his  cooperation, 
were  lulling  him  into  drowsy  security.  Yrujo  would 
have  been  blind  indeed  had  he  not  discovered  that  the 
Westerners  were  massing,  not  to  overawe  Kentucky, 
but  to  take  for  themselves  certain  properties  which 
were  destined  to  belong  a  little  longer  to  Carlos  IV. 
Yrujo  confessed  that  Burr  in  sending  him  this  officer 
had  "inspired  him  with  the  liveliest  apprehensions." 
And  he  renewed  his  warnings  to  the  officers  in  Florida, 
Texas,  and  Mexico. 

After  his  interview  with  Yrujo,  De  Pestre  went  to 
New  York,  where  he  met  that  contingent  which  was  to 
have  gone  round  by  sea  to  New  Orleans.  But  every 
thing  was  now  in  confusion  because  of  the  President's 
denunciation  of  the  enterprise  through  his  Proclama 
tion  of  November  27th.1  Still,  hope  of  ultimate  suc- 

JSee  p.  196. 


PLANS  AND  PREPARATIONS          95 

cess  was  not  abandoned,  and  De  Pestre  returned  in  a 
fortnight  to  Philadelphia,  and  once  more  called  upon 
Yrujo,  to  whom  he  related  that  Swartwout,  Dr.  Erwin, 
Colonel  Smith,  and  Captain  Lewis  of  the  merchant- 
ship  Emperor  would  soon  set  off  for  New  Orleans.  De 
Pestre  further  stated  r1 — 

"that  the  youths  enlisted  to  serve  as  officers  should  set 
out  as  soon  as  possible  for  their  posts.  These,  my  in 
formant  told  me,  are  different.  Some  two  or  three  of 
them,  the  quickest  and  keenest,  go  to  Washington  to 
observe  the  movements  of  Government,  to  keep  their 
friends  in  good  disposition,  and  to  dispatch  expresses 
with  news  of  any  important  disposition  or  occurrence. 
Three  go  to  Norfolk  to  make  some  dispatch  of  provisions. 
A  good  number  of  them  will  go  direct  to  Charleston  to 
take  command  as  officers,  and  see  to  the  embarkation  of 
the  numerous  recruits  whom  Colonel  Burr's  son-in-law 
has  raised  in  South  Carolina.  He  himself  will  then  have 
returned  there  from  Kentucky,  and  will  embark  with 
them  for  New  Orleans.  The  rest  will  embark  directly 
for  that  city  from  New  York." 

This  time  the  Marquis  plied  De  Pestre  with  such 
questions  as,  Why,  if  the  separation  of  the  States  is  the 
object,  was  it  necessary  to  prepare  such  quantities  of 
provisions?  and  Why  the  State  of  Kentucky  had  be 
come  obstinate  ?  It  appears  from  Yrujo's  account  that 
De  Pestre  was  almost  driven  from  his  ground.  Indeed, 
he  was  taunted  for  his  dissembling.  Blennerhassett 
gave  it  on  the  authority  of  the  Frenchman — who  re 
lated  the  whole  of  the  circumstances  to  him  while  at 
Richmond — that  Yrujo  "pierced  the  cobweb  tissue  of 
Burr's  intrigues  with  him  at  a  single  glance." 

^Yrujo  to  Cevallos,  December  16,  i8o5;  MSS.  Spanish 
Archives. 


1 


96     THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

"He  assured  De  Pestre,"  the  Journal  records,1  "that 
had  Burr  opened  his  designs  with  frankness,  and  really 
projected  a  severance  of  the  Union,  and  nothing  hostile 
to  the  Spanish  provinces,  he,  Burr,  might  have  had  an 
easy  resort  to  the  Spanish  treasury  and  its  arsenals.  But 
Yrujo  laughed  at  the  awkwardness  with  which  Burr 
endeavored  to  mask  his  designs  on  Mexico." 

Such  a  moment  of  satisfaction  Yrujo  could  not 
have  enjoyed.  It  was  not  until  De  Pestre  came  on  the 
stage  that  the  Marquis  realized  how  thoroughly  he  had 
been  entrapped.  He  was  now  convinced  that  Burr 
planned  a  descent  upon  Mexico,  and  realized  that  the 
only  barrier  which  stood  between  the  adventurer  and 
his  goal  was  Wilkinson.  So  he  wrote  with  the  deepest 
complacency  some  weeks  later  that  Spain  had  saved 
herself  and  the  United  States  by  pensioning  Wilkinson, 
who  had  entered  into  Burr's  design  for  the  division  of 
the  Union,  but  rebelled  at  his  plan  for  the  conquest  of 
Mexico.  * 

While  Yrujo  was  enjoying  this  special  confidence 
of  the  associates,  the  stories  of  the  conspiracy  which 
were  already  rife  in  the  States  spread  naturally  into 
the  very  provinces  the  Spanish  Minister  was  most  ex 
ercised  about.  Some  project  had  been  ascribed  to  Burr 
as  early  as  July,  1805,  an<3  since  that  date  the  Spanish 
governors  had  not  been  lacking  information  from 
Yrujo,  from  the  press  of  the  States,  and  from  local 
connections.  Although  Yrujo  knew  Burr  to  be  at 
the  head  of  the  project,  with  the  ostensible  design  of 

1 Blennerhassett  Papers,  p.  417. 

z  Yrujo  to  Cevallos,  January  28,  1807;  MSS.  Spanish 
Archives. 


PLANS  AND  PREPARATIONS         97 

disrupting  the  Union,  the  administrators  in  the  prov 
inces  of  Don  Carlos  thought  the  movement  directed  by 
the  Government  of  the  United  States,  whose  object  was 
solely  the  extension  of  boundaries.  Grand  Pre,  sta 
tioned  at  Baton  Rouge,  had  become  alarmed,  and  wrote 
Claiborne  as  early  as  April  i,  1806,  that  he  understood 
hostile  preparations  against  his  province  were  making 
in  Mississippi.  Claiborne  replied,  "Your  Excellency's 
letter  of  the  first  instant,  has  been  received,  and  to  quiet 
your  apprehensions  as  far  as  is  in  my  power,  I  hasten  to 
assure  you  that  I  have  never  before  heard  of  the  hostile 
preparations  which  you  seem  to  think  are  on  foot  in  the  V 
Mississippi  Territory."1  But  Claiborne  had  forgotten 
that  he  had  said  in  a  dispatch  to  Washington  that  West 
Florida  was  ready  to  revolt,  and  that  hostile  arma 
ments  were  organizing.  Kemper — one  of  the  filibust 
ering  brothers  of  that  name  in  Mississippi — bore  wit 
ness  to  that  when  he  said  that  Burr's  corps,  which  were 
forming  in  that  Territory,  meant  to  attack  Baton 
Rouge;  and  Wilkinson  likewise  testified  to  the  open 
hostility  of  the  Territory  under  Meade,  the  latter  hav 
ing  expressed  the  wish  that  the  Spanish  cavalry  would 
intercept  the  General  on  his  ride  to  the  frontier  in  Sep 
tember,  "because  if  this  did  not  happen  we  should  have 
no  war.  The  same  man,"  said  Wilkinson,  "before  I 
reached  Natchez  actually  talked  of  attacking  Baton 
Rouge."  2  Early  in  the  fall  Vicente  Folch,  Governor 
of  West  Florida,  was  advised  of  the  scheme  and  of 
the  violent  disposition  of  his  neighbors;  and  imme- 

^laiborne  to  Grand  Pre,  April  8,  1806;  Journal,  p.  in. 
Wilkinson  to  John  Smith,  Jefferson  MSS. 


98     THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

diately  hurried   information  to  Mexico.     Again,   on 
October  I  st,  he  sent  a  message  to  the  Viceroy : ' — 

"You  have  already  been  informed  of  the  project  to 
revolutionize  Mexico.  This  enterprise  has  not  been  lost 
sight  of,  and  seems  to  be  stronger  than  ever.  According 
to  the  plan,  if  the  weather  permits,  in  February  or  March 
ten  thousand  Kentuckians,  three  thousand  regular  troops, 
eight  or  ten  thousand  militia  from  Louisiana,  who  will 
be  forced  to  go,  will  march  for  Mexico.  They  will  raise 
a  corps  of  five  thousand  blacks,  who  will  be  taken  from 
the  plantations  and  declared  free.  This  will  make  an 
army  of  from  twenty-eight  to  thirty  thousand  men;  five 
thousand  will  be  reserved  for  the  city  of  New  Orleans. 
Baton  Rouge  and  Pensacola  will  probably  be  the  first 
taken.  .  .  .  After  that,  Natchitoches  will  be  the  point 
for  the  reunion.  Part  of  the  army  will  be  embarked  to 
land  at  the  Rio  Grande.  The  pretext  for  this  expedition 
is  afforded  by  the  presence  of  the  Spanish  troops  at 
Adayes.  Congress  will  act  only  on  the  defensive,  but  if 
onCe  these  troops  are  united  they  will  march  toward 
Mexico  with  great  proclamations." 

Without  doubt  Folch  had  grains  of  truth  with  his 
chaff;  but  here  again  Burr's  project  was  swallowed  up 
in  the  larger  purpose  attributed  to  the  nation.  That 
!  the  movement  was  directed  wholly  against  Spain  was 
i  indubitable.  There  was  not  a  hint  nor  even  a  suspicion 
that  the  West,  according  to  Yrujo's  advices,  was  first 
to  be  revolutionized.  To  those  viewing  the  situation 
at  short  range  his  disclosures  appeared  but  idle  proph 
ecy;  of  national  aggressiveness,  on  the  other  hand, 
there  were  unmistakable  signs,  and  its  direction  was 
undoubted. 

1  Folch  to  Iturrigaray,  October  i,  1806;  MSS.  Mexican 
Archives. 


PLANS  AND  PREPARATIONS          99 

Amid  all  these  eddying  reports  and  rumors,  the 
Government  at  Washington,  harassed  by  Pitt,  teased 
by  Napoleon,  and  defied  by  Godoy,  labored  heedless  of 
the  gathering  storm  on  a  near  horizon.  It  was  toward 
the  end  of  October  before  the  Administration  thought 
the  matter  of  the  conspiracy  worth  its  attention.  Vari 
ous  letters  and  the  notice  of  the  organization  of  the 
Wood  County  militia  had  been  received,  but  there  was 
nothing  tangible  in  any  of  the  communications.  Octo 
ber  1 3th  one  James  Taylor  wrote  to  Madison  from 
Kentucky  that  the  scheme  in  question  was  to  seize  the 
Congress  lands  and  to  separate  the  States;  that  Blen- 
nerhassett,  who  had  fled  to  this  country,  was  reported 
to  have  written  the  articles  signed  "Querist";1  that 
Woodbridge  &  Company  of  Marietta  were  building  ten 
gunboats,  or  strong  vessels  resembling  them,  at  a  navy 
yard  seven  miles  up  the  Muskingum.2  Long  before 
this,  however,  Jefferson  had  been  warned  that  a  con 
spiracy  was  on  foot  in  the  West  and  that  Burr  was  its 
master-spirit.  As  early  as  January  10,  1806,  Joseph 
H.  Daviess,  prosecut ing-attorney  for  the  Federal  Dis 
trict  of  Kentucky,  wrote  the  President  a  private  letter 
denouncing  the  Spanish  pensioners,  and  declaring  that 
Burr's  object  was  to  effect  "a  separation  of  the  Union 
in  favor  of  Spain." 

"This  plot  is  laid  wider  than  you  imagine,"  he  asserted 
by  way  of  a  general  warning.  " Mention  the  subject  to  no 
one  from  the  Western  country,  however  high  in  office  he 
may  be.  Some  of  them  are  deeply  tainted  with  this 
treason.  I  hate  duplicity  of  expression ;  but  on  this 

^ee  p.  81. 

Taylor  to  Madison,  October  13,  1806 ;  Madison  MSS. 


ioo  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

subject  I  am  not  authorized  to  be  explicit,  nor  is  it  neces 
sary.  You  will  dispatch  some  fit  person  into  the  Orleans 
country  to  inquire."  1 

Daviess  knew  nothing  "explicit,"  nor  was  he  in 
better  position  eleven  months  later  when  he  swore  out 
a  process  against  Burr.  Notwithstanding,  from  the 
date  of  his  first  note  until  Burr  was  afloat  upon  the 
Mississippi,  he  kept  up  a  constant  stream  of  denuncia 
tions.  In  a  second  letter,  one  month  from  the  first,  he 
recited  the  itinerary  of  Burr  during  his  trip  through 
the  West  in  1805  '•>  named  the  men  with  whom  he  asso 
ciated,  dwelling  particularly  on  his  connection  with 
Wilkinson  and  the  Senator  from  Ohio.  On  March  5th 
he  declared  that  he  would  raise  money  and  pursue  the 
plot  at  his  own  expense.'  The  President  had  already 
written  him  asking  for  more  information. '  In  pursuit 
of  this,  May  7th  found  the  district-attorney  at  St. 
Louis,  where  he  remained  several  days  scrutinizing 
Wilkinson's  conduct  with  a  view  to  fathoming  the  con 
spiracy.  4  Once  the  General  took  up  a  map  and,  tapping 
the  region  about  New  Mexico,  said,  "Had  Burr  been 
President  we  should  have  had  all  this  country  before 
now."  To  Madison  Daviess  confided  at  this  stage  that 
a  war  with  Spain  was  the  first  step  in  the  programme, 
and  that  this  was  considered  inevitable.  "The  Mexican 
provinces,  the  American  possessions  on  the  Mississippi, 
and  the  Floridas  are  in  view."  Later  he  saw  four 

*View  of  the  President's  Conduct  (p.  10),  by  J.  H.  Daviess, 
1807. 

*View  of  the  President's  Conduct,  p.  13. 
'  View,  etc.,  p.  14.    Clark's  Proofs,  p.  179. 
•Smith's  History  of  Kentucky,  p.  427. 


PLANS  AND  PREPARATIONS        101 

sides  to  the  plot :  one  for  the  Spanish  Minister,  in  New 
Orleans  and  the  Western  States;  one  for  adventurers, 
in  the  conquest  of  Mexico;  another  for  the  multitude, 
in  the  Washita  lands ;  and  lastly  one  for  Burr  himself, 
aggrandizement.1  But  the  Government  was  not  driven 
by  Daviess's  wholesale  charges  to  an  investigation  of 
the  plot;  nor  were  his  communications  even  mentioned 
among  the  sources  of  information  in  the  Cabinet  Mem 
oranda  of  October  22d,  which  Jefferson  recorded  in  his 
own  hand.' — 

"During  the  last  session  of  Congress,  Colonel  Burr 
who  was  here,  finding  no  hope  of  being  employed  in  any 
department  of  the  government,  opened  himself  confiden 
tially  to  some  persons  on  whom  he  thought  he  could  rely, 
on  a  scheme  of  separating  the  Western  from  the  Atlantic 
States,  and  erecting  the  former  into  an  independent  con 
federacy.  He  had  before  made  a  tour  of  those  States, 
which  had  excited  suspicions,  as  every  motion  does  of 
such  a  Catalinarian  character.  Of  his  having  made  this 
proposition  here  we  have  information  from  General 
Eaton  through  Mr.  Ely  and  Mr.  Granger.  He  went  off 
this  spring  to  the  western  country.  Of  his  movements 
on  his  way,  information  has  come  to  the  Secretary  of 
State  and  myself  from  John  Nicholson  and  Mr.  Williams 
of  the  state  of  New  York,  respecting  a  Mr.  Tyler; 
Colonel  Morgan,  Neville,  and  Roberts,  near  Pittsburg; 
and  to  other  citizens  through  other  channels  and  the 
newspapers.  We  are  of  opinion  unanimously  that  con 
fidential  letters  be  written  to  the  Governors  of  Ohio, 
Indiana,  Mississippi,  and  New  Orleans ;  to  the  district- 
attorneys  of  Kentucky,  of  Tennessee,  of  Louisiana,  to 
have  him  strictly  watched,  and  on  his  committing  any 
overt  act,  to  have  him  arrested  and  tried  for  treason,  mis 
demeanor,  or  whatever  other  offence  the  act  may  amount 

lView,  etc.,  p.  21. 

'Memoranda,  October  22,  1806;  Jefferson  MSS. 


102  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

to ;  and  in  like  manner  to  arrest  and  try  any  of  his  follow 
ers  committing  acts  against  the  laws.  We  think  it  proper 
also  to  order  some  of  the  gunboats  up  to  Fort  Adams  to 
stop  by  force  any  passage  of  suspicious  persons  going 
down  in  force.  General  Wilkinson  being  expressly  de 
clared  by  Burr  to  Eaton  to  be  engaged  with  him  in  this 
design  as  his  lieutenant,  or  first  in  command,  and  suspi 
cion  of  infidelity  in  Wilkinson  being  now  become  very 
general,  a  question  is  proposed  what  is  proper  to  be  done 
as  to  him  on  this  account,  as  well  as  for  his  disobedience 
of  orders  received  by  him  June  1 1  at  St.  Louis  to  descend 
with  all  practical  despatch  to  New  Orleans  to  mark  out 
the  site  of  certain  defensive  works  there,  and  then  repair 
to  take  command  at  Natchitoches,  on  which  business  he 
did  not  leave  St.  Louis  till  September.  Consideration 
adjourned. 

"October  24.  It  is  agreed  unanimously  to  call  for 
Captains  Preble  and  Decatur  to  repair  to  New  Orleans, 
by  land  or  by  sea  as  they  please,  there  to  take  command 
of  the  force  on  the  water,  and  that  the  Argus  and  two 
gunboats  from  New  York,  three  from  Norfolk,  and  two 
from  Charleston  shall  be  ordered  there,  if  on  consulta 
tion  between  Mr.  Gallatin  and  Mr.  Smith  the  appropria 
tions  shall  be  found  to  enable  us;  that  Preble  shall,  on 
consultation  with  Governor  Claiborne,  have  great  discre 
tionary  powers ;  that  Graham  shall  be  sent  through  Ken 
tucky  on  Burr's  trail,  with  discretionary  powers  to  con 
sult  confidentially  with  the  governors  to  arrest  Burr  if  he 
has  made  himself  liable.  He  is  to  have  a  commission  oi 
[Upper]  Louisiana,  and  Dr.  Browne  is  to  be  removed. 
Letters  are  to  be  written  by  post  to  Governor  Claiborne, 
the  Governor  of  Mississippi,  and  Colonel  Freeman  to  be 
on  their  guard  against  any  surprises  of  our  posts  or  ves 
sels  by  him.  The  question  as  to  General  Wilkinson  post 
poned  till  Preble's  departure,  for  future  information. 

"October  25.  A  mail  arrived  yesterday  from  the 
westward,  and  not  one  word  is  heard  from  that  quarter 
of  any  movements  of  Colonel  Burr.  This  total  silence 
of  the  officers  of  the  government,  of  the  members  of 
Congress,  of  the  newspapers,  proves  he  is  committing  no 


PLANS  AND  PREPARATIONS        103 

overt  act  against  the  law.  We  therefore  rescind 
the  determination  to  send  Preble,  Decatur,  the  Argus,  or 
the  gunboats,  and  instead  of  them  to  send  off  the  marines 
which  are  here  to  reinforce,  or  take  place  of,  the  gar- 
^  rison  at  New  Orleans,  with  a  view  to  Spanish  operations ; 
Ir  and  instead  of  writing  to  the  governors,  etc.,  we  send 
Graham  on  that  route,  with  confidential  authority  to 
inquire  into  Burr's  movements,  put  the  Governors,  etc., 
on  their  guard,  to  provide  for  his  arrest  if  necessary, 
and  to  take  on  himself  the  government  of  [Upper] 
Louisiana.  Letters  are  still  to  be  written  to  Claiborne, 
Freeman,  and  the  Governor  of  Mississippi  to  be  on  their 
guard." 

The  resolutions  of  the  first  two  days  indicate  that 
the  Cabinet  saw  possible  danger  in  Burr's  project;  but 
the  action  of  the  third  proves  that  they  were  loath,  with 
their  meagre  information,  to  take  any  decisive  steps. 
The  fact  that  Wilkinson's  derelictions  were  quietly 
passed  over  is  only  another  illustration  of  the  painful 
indecision  which  ruled  at  this  time  both  President  and 
advisers  in  every  matter  of  importance.  Burr's  plot 
was  subordinated  to  the  threatening  foreign  complica 
tions;  therefore  one  need  express  no  astonishment  at 
the  rescinding  of  all  vigorous  measures  against  a  con 
spiracy  which,  as  yet,  had  taken  no  definite  form,  and 
which  had  been  denounced  only  in  the  vaguest  terms. 
It  seemed  quite  sufficient  to  send  John  Graham,  Secre 
tary  of  the  Orleans  Territory,  on  Burr's  path  to  inquire 
into  his  behavior,  and  to  write  letters  of  warning  to 
the  officials  of  the  West. 

But  if  the  officials  of  the  Western  States,  familiar 
with  Burr's  movements,  were  expecting  a  warning  of 
any  character  it  was  to  prepare  to  defend  themselves 


104  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

against  the  Castilians  in  force  on  their  borders.  Jack 
son  had  just  issued  his  proclamation  to  the  Tennessee 
militia,  and  Burr  went  from  place  to  place  applauded 
as  the  leader  destined  to  scourge  a  foe  whose  insolence 
and  aggressions  had  at  last  outworn  the  patience  of  a 
long-suffering  people. 


CHAPTER    V. 

The  Crisis  on  the  Frontier 

* 

WHEN  James  Monroe,  Minister  Plenipoten 
tiary  to  England  and  Envoy  Extraordinary 
to  Spain,  quitted  Madrid  for  London,  May 
26,  1805,  war  with  Spain  appeared  inevitable.  The  at 
tempt  to  reach  a  settlement  of  the  disputes  between  the 
two  countries  had  utterly  failed.  With  the  United 
States  now  threatening  to  fall  upon  that  part  of  the 
Empire  which  might  otherwise  escape  the  greed  of  the 
Dictator  of  Europe  and  the  English  merchants,  the 
circle  of  Spain's  enemies  was  complete;  it  was  a  situa 
tion  from  which  there  was  no  escape,  and  Manuel  de 
Godoy,  the  Prince  of  Peace,  looked  resignedly  ahead  to 
wars  and  embroilments  in  the  Hope  of  finding  relief. 

The  very  day  on  which  Monroe  had  his  audience  of 
leave  with  Carlos  IV.,  May  22,  1805,  Don  Pedro 
Cevallos,  Minister  of  State,  discussed  with  Soler,  Min 
ister  of  Hacienda,  the  course  the  negotiations  had 
taken.  After  canvassing  each  point  which  had  been 
raised  in  the  conferences  with  Monroe — admitting  the 
justness  of  only  one  claim  of  the  United  States — the 
very  important  dispatch  closed  with  this  paragraph : 
"I  send  you  this  notice  so  that  you  may  take  what 
measures  the  service  of  the  King  and  the  security  of 
his  dominions  demand,  it  being  impossible  to  forecast 
the  consequences  which  may  follow  the  rupture  of 

105 


106  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

negotiations."1  The  matter  was  more  pointedly  put 
by  Francisco  Gil  to  the  Viceroy  of  Mexico,  Jose  de 
Iturrigaray  :2 — 

"The  political  situation  with  regard  to  the  United 
States  of  America  is  darkly^  uncertain,  because  the  nego 
tiations  which  were  undertaken  with  Mr.  Monroe  have 
been  broken  off  on  account  of  the  fact  that  the  claims 
he  advanced  were  as  ambitious  and  exorbitant  as  they 
were  prejudicial  to  the  rights  of  the  Crown.  The  defenses 
of  our  possessions  will,  therefore,  be  looked  to  with  the 
utmost  care." 

A  plan  for  the  protection  of  Texas  was  speedily  de 
vised,  and  early  in  October,  1805,  tne  posts  of  Bayou 
Pierre  and  Nana,  to  the  east  of  the  Sabine — recon 
noitring  stations  mustering  respectively  forces  of 
twenty  and  ten  men — were  occupied.3  Behind  these 
were  Nacogdoches,  Orcoquisac,  and  Trinidad,  where 
the  real  struggle  for  the  defense  of  the  province  would 
be  made,  while  further  in  the  interior  were  La  Bahia, 
San  Marcos,  Refugio,  and  San  Antonio  de  Bexar.4 
While  these  preparations  show  that  a  struggle  was  ex 
pected,  half  invited,  the  Americans  were  taking  steps 
which  promised  no  disappointment. 

January  24,  1806,  Major  Porter,  commanding  Fort 
Claiborne  at  Natchitoches,  received  an  order  from  the 
War  Department  which  required  that  the  officer  in 
command  at  Nacogdoches  should  give  assurance  that 
no  further  inroads  would  be  made  to  the  east  of  the 

'Real  Cedulas,  vol.  cxcv. ;  MSS.  Mexican  Archives. 

2Real  Cedulas,  vol.  cxcv.;  MSS.  Mexican  Archives. 

"Gonzales  to  Rodriguez,  October  16,  1805;  MSS.  Bexar 
Archives. 

4Salcedo  to  Cordero,  October  8  and  25  (two  letters),  1805; 
MSS.  Bexar  Archives. 


THE  CRISIS  ON  THE  FRONTIER    107 

Sabine,  to  which  stream  the  Americans  were  to  extend 
their  patrols.  Lieutenant  Piatt  with  these  instructions 
was  sent  to  Nacogdoches.  Rodriguez,  the  commander, 
replied  that  no  aggression  had  been  intended,  but  that 
he  could  not  give  the  assurance  demanded.1  Piatt  re 
turned  with  this  answer,  and  on  the  first  of  February 
Captain  Turner  with  his  command,  which  numbered 
sixty,  was  ordered  to  proceed  to  the  neighborhood  of 
Adayes,  where  he  would  fall  in  with  a  "stationary  party 
of  armed  Spaniards"  which  was  to  be  commanded  to 
withdraw  beyond  the  Sabine.  They  might  go  in  peace 
if  they  would,  but  evacuate  they  must,  even  at  the  cost 
of  blood.  So  ran  the  orders.2 

On  the  fifth  Turner  arrived  before  the  camp  at 
Bayou  Pierre  near  Adayes,  where  a  mission  had  stood 
in  the  past  century.  Gonzales,  the  commanding  officer, 
protested  at  the  unwarranted  invasion  of  his  Sover 
eign's  territory,  but  signed  a  written  agreement  to  the 
effect  that  the  troops  of  his  Catholic  Majesty  which  he 
commanded  would  be  transported  to  the  other  side  of 
the  Sabine  as  soon  as  the  horses  were  in  condition  to 
travel ;  or  at  furthest  in  six  days.3 

Now  indeed  the  fear  of  invasion  seized  both  sides. 
The  Americans  trembled  for  Louisiana;  the  air  was 
rife  with  tales  of  Spanish  intrigues,  and  there  were 
evidences  of  deceit  and  treachery.  Major  Porter  had 
but  two  hundred  effective  men  to  meet  whatever  emer 
gency  arose,  while  the  enemy  were  said  to  number  four 

Martin's  Louisiana,  ii.,  63. 

^Messages  and  Reports  of  the  United  States  Government, 
1806.  Gayarre's  History  of  Louisiana,  iv.,  137. 

^Messages  and  Reports  of  the  United  States  Government, 
1806. 


io8  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

hundred,  exclusive  of  Indians.1  In  reality  the  Span 
iards  were  only  fifty-one.  But  the  permanent  abandon 
ment  of  the  region  in  dispute  was  far  from  the  purpose^ 
of  Salcedo,  Captain -General  of  the  Internal  Provinces 
of  Mexico,  who  at  once  ordered  to  the  front  six  hun 
dred  militia  under  Lieutenant-Colonel  Herrera.2  A 
little  later  he  declared  that  the  United  States  by  sending 
troops  across  the  Arroyo  Hondo  had  been  guilty  of 
breaking  the  harmony  existing  between  the  two  powers. 

"Ever  since  France  sold  Louisiana  to  -the  United 
States,"  he  went  on  petulantly  to  Cordero,3  ''nothing  has 
been  left  undone  to  extend  the  limits  into  the  Spanish 
possessions  of  the  Missouri  (Misuri)  and  Arkansas 
(Napertle),  and  to  .secure  the  twenty-two  leagues  of 
land  lying  between  the  Arroyo  Hondo  and  the  Sabine, 
the  former  of  which  marks  the  boundary  of  Louisiana, 
as  the  Americans  well  know.  They  are  also  massing 
troops  without  question  of  expense  to  hold  by  force  their 
spoils.  They  are  also  intriguing  with  the  Indians,  have 
built  a  storehouse  at  Natchitoches  and  have  filled  it  with 
gifts  for  them.  It  has  not  been  possible  for  us  to  oppose 
them  in  force,  but  in  order  to  counteract  their  influence 
among  the  Indians  I  have  dispatched  expeditions  to  the 
various  tribes,  our  dependencies — some  to  the  far  North 
west." 

In  addition  to  the  threatening  situation  in  Texas, 
rumors  of  a  graver  nature  reached  the  Captain-General 
of  the  Internal  Provinces  at  Chihuahua.  They  were 
nothing  less  than  premonitory  warnings  of  the  coming 
of  Burr;  and  it  is  indeed  astonishing  to  discover  that 
thus  early  the  officials  of  Mexico  had  received  ac- 

'Gayarre,  iv.,  137. 

'Salcedo  to  Cordero,  April  g,  1806;  MSS.  Bexar  Archives. 

'Salcedo  to  Cordero,  April  15,  1806;  MSS.  Bexar  Archives. 


THE  CRISIS  ON  THE  FRONTIER   109 

counts  of  the  nature  of  his  plot.  Burr's  designs  were 
complicated  with  the  attitude  assumed  by  the  United 
States  Government  in  the  matter  of  the  extension  of 
'boundaries,  and  the  complication  confounded  contem 
poraries,  most  of  all  the  Spaniards.  They  saw  the  con 
spiracy  only  as  an  aggressive  movement  against  their 
territories,  organized  as  it  were  under  the  wing  of  the 
Government  and  with  the  plea  of  vindication  of  rights. 
But  the  Spaniards  also  thought  they  had  rights,  and 
prepared  to  defend  them.  April  2ist  Governor  Cordero 
commanded  that  the  various  chiefs  of  Indian  tribes 
of  Texas  should  be  notified  of  the  menace  of  the  United 
States,  so  that  they  might  be  vigilant.1  By  this,  too, 
the  Viceroy,  who  was  at  first  inclined  to  ignore  the 
movement,  began  to  look  seriously  upon  the  crisis,  and 
sent  forward  all  the  available  troops.2 

Meanwhile  the  Spanish  soldiers  who  had  lingered 
in  New  Orleans  months  beyond  their  allotted  time — for 
no  other  purpose,  some  thought,  than  to  create  disaffec 
tion,  or  to  be  on  the  ground  to  seize  the  city  by  a  coup 
de  main — were  ordered  away.  Among  those  who  left 
sullen  and  defeated  was  the  dictatorial  intendant,  Juan 
Ventura  Morales,  famous  as  the  author  of  the  closure 
of  the  entrepot  at  New  Orleans.  February  I5th,  three 
days  after  Morales  had  departed,  Marquis  Casa  Calvo, 
also  under  compulsion  and  bitterly  protesting,  set  out 
for  Pensacola.  He  had  just  returned  to  New  Orleans 
from  a  four  months'  trip  to  Texas,  where,  to  credit 
Rodriguez,  he  had  advocated  the  precipitation  of  hos= 

Cordero  to  Viana,  April  21,  1806;  MSS.  Bexar  Archives. 
2Iturrigaray  to  Salcedo,  April  28,  1806;  MSS.  Bexar  Archives. 


no  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

tilities  in  the  belief  that  Louisiana  would  espouse  the 
cause  of  Spain.1  Cordero  and  Salcedo  thought  him 
busy  with  carrying  into  effect  his  commission  as  terri 
torial  adjudicator,  while  Claiborne  heard  that  he  was 
tampering  with  the  allegiance  of  the  Indians ;  that  he 
was  spreading  discontent,  or  indeed,  that  he  had  gone 
to  command  the  Mexican  army.2  The  nervous  Gov 
ernor  of  Louisiana  rejoiced  therefore  at  the  President's 
determination  to  hasten  the  withdrawal  of  the  Span 
iards.  Their  expulsion,  however,  stirred  up  their 
brethren  in  West  Florida.  Governor  Folch  refused 
to  permit  the  transmission  of  the  United  States  mails 
through  his  territory,  the  fortifications  of  Mobile  were 
strengthened,  and  emissaries  were  sent  among  the 
Choctaws.  Claiborne  became  uneasy,  and  wrote  the 
President  that  a  respectable  force  was  essential  to  the 
safety  of  New  Orleans.  As  the  summer  wore  on 
affairs  calmed  somewhat  on  the  frontier,  but  there 
were  too  many  provocations  for  the  thought  of  peace. 
Spain  had  cast  the  die  and  was  as  determined  to 
do  nothing — her  European  position  had  materially 
changed  for  the  worse — as  when  Monroe  demanded 
his  passports  of  Carlos  IV.  in  May,  1805. 

"On  the  fourth  of  July  [1806],"  says  ParloiU 
"there  were  not  a  thousand  persons  in  the  United 
States  who  did  not  think  war  with  Spain  inevitable, 
impending,  begun !"  War  with  Spain  was  to  be  waged 
not  only  that  our  rights  might  be  vindicated,  but  also 
that  the  Mexicans  might  be  free.  It  was  in  the  West 

Rodriguez  to  Cordero,  March  4,  1806;  MSS.  Bexar  Archives. 
*Casa  Calvo  to  Cordero,  December  8,  1805;  Salcedo  to  Cor 
dero,  January  i  and  28  (two  letters),  1806;  MSS.  Bexar  Archives. 


THE  CRISIS  ON  THE  FRONTIER   in 

that  this  feeling  reached  its  climax,  and  the  sentiments 
pervading  the  celebrations  of  the  Fourth  of  July  may 
well  be  taken  as  indicative  of  their  attitude.  To  know 
their  attitude  to\yard  the  Union,  a  war  with  Spain,  the 
invasion  of  Mexico  is  to  hold  the  key  to  the  conspiracy. 
From  the  nature  of  things,  a  conspiracy  with  form  and 
life  .must  reflect  the  character  of  its  adherents.  Was 
there  then  in  the  West  an  element  unfriendly  to  the 
Union  ?  Was  there  one  animated  by  revolutionary  im 
pulses  which  longed  to  expel  the  arrogant  foreigner 
from  the  shores  of  America?  The  Westerners  made 
reply  in  unequivocal  language. 

At  a  banquet  in  Cincinnati  the  following  appro 
priate  toast  was  drunk :  "May  party  spirit  be  banished 
from  this  land,  and  freedom  and  a  union  of  sentiment 
predominate;  a  determination  to  support  our  liberty 
and  Constitution  inviolate." *  Among  other  toasts 
offered  at  Georgetown,  Kentucky,  were:  "The  people 
of  the  United  States :  may  their  union  be  lasting  as 
time";  and,  "Western  America:  one  in  principle  and 
interest  with  the  rest  of  the  Union."  2  In  a  neighbor 
ing  city:  "The  Mississippi  and  its  waters — our  high 
way  to  market :  may  its  trade  be  free  and  uninterrupted 
as  its  current."  Then  drinking  to  Louisiana,  our  recent 
acquisition:  "May  the  tree  of  liberty  flourish  on  the 
ruins  of  despotism";  and,  "May  the  Western  country 
flourish,  and  the  golden  chain  of  the  Union  never 
break."3  At  Lexington  they  praised  "l\e  patriots  who 
suffered  in  '76" ;  and,  "Thomas  Jefferson,  President  of 

Western  Spy,  July  8,  1806. 
'Palladium,  July  27,  1806. 
'Palladium,  July  10,  1806. 


ii2  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

the  United  States."  In  St.  Louis  we  find  similar  expres 
sions  of  faith  and  confidence  in  the  Constitution  and 
the  Republic.  At  a  celebration  given  October  25th  in 
honor  of  Lewis  and  Clark,  the  returning  explorers  of 
the  far  Northwest,  these  toasts  were  proposed:  "The 
Territory  of  Louisiana — freedom  without  bloodshed : 
may  her  actions  duly  appreciate  the  blessing."  Then, 
with  three  cheers :  "The  Federal  Constitution :  may 
the  eagle  of  America  convey  it  to  the  remotest  parts 
of  the  globe ;  and  whilst  they  read  they  can  but  admire." 
A  third :  "The  memory  of  the  illustrious  Washington, 
father  of  America :  may  his  guardian  spirit  still  watch 
over  us  and  prove  a  terror  to  the  engines  of  tyranny." 
In  New  Orleans  they  toasted  the  following  sentiment : 
"The  ancient  boundaries  of  Louisiana — republics  never 
contract  their  limits."  Claiborne  was  delighted  with 
the  celebration  in  his  capital. 

"On  yesterday,"  he  said  to  Dearborn  in  a  dispatch  of 
July  5,  1806,  "the  citizens  of  this  place  exhibited  a  degree 
of  patriotism  which  afforded  me  pleasure.  All  the  stores 
in  the  city  were  closed  by  order  of  the  city  council,  and 
the  inhabitants  generally  suspended  their  usual  avoca 
tions.  High  mass  was  performed  in  the  forenoon  at 
the  churches,  and  a  Te  Deum  sung.  At  night  a  new 
tragedy  called  Washington;  or,  the  Liberty  of  the  New 
World,  was  performed  and  much  applauded  by  the 
numerous  audience,  consisting  for  the  most  part  of 
ancient  Louisianians."  * 

Even  the  Creoles  were  enthusiastic  and  applauded 
the  idea  of  liberty  for  the  New  World ;  and  liberty  for 
the  New  World,  as  they  knew,  could  come  only  by  the 

'Claiborne  to  Dearborn,  July  5,  1806;  Journal,  p.  201. 


THE  CRISIS  ON  THE  FRONTIER   113 

destruction  of  the  power  which  had  fettered  it.  Also 
the  Mexican  Association,  or,  more  accurately,  the 
Mexican  Society,  of  New  Orleans  was  enthusiastic 
in  the  agitation  for  war.  "It  had  for  its  object,"  said 
Dr.  Watkins,  Mayor  of  New  Orleans,  "collecting  in 
formation  relative  to  the  population  and  force  of  the 
interior  provinces  of  New  Spain  which,  in  the  event 
of  war,  might  be  useful  to  the  United  States."  He 
further  averred  that  the  invasion  of  Mexico  had  always 
been  counted  upon  in  a  war  with  the  Dons. 

The  West,  as  it  loved  the  Union  hated  Spain,  and 
that  hatred  appeared  to  be  of  a  nature  which  only  war 
could  appease.  The  war  might  be  legitimate  or  other 
wise — there  were  those  who  did  not  mean  to  ask  ques 
tions.  Perhaps  this  element  and  its  most  extravagant 
plan  is  represented  in  the  communication  published  in 
several  Western  newspapers  in  the  fall  of  1805,  over 
the  signature  of  "A  Kentucky  Man"  : 

"As  to  the  Spaniards,  we  can  pay  ourselves.  There 
are  gentlemen  now  in  this  city  from  the  westward,  who 
will  make  contracts  whenever  Congress  authorizes  it  to 
pay  every  just  claim  of  our  citizens  upon  them,  and  will 
engage  to  do  it,  free  of  any  expense  to  the  United  States, 
and  also,  not  to  injure  any  private  property  in  Mexico."1 

Evidently  nothing  less  was  meditated  than  the 
overrunning  of  Mexico,  whose  public  domains  or  con 
fiscated  public  properties  would  be  seized  for  debts 
long  overdue!  The  proposition  was  not  so  visionary 
as  it  appeared  on  its  face,  and  cannot  be  overlooked 

^Orleans  Gazette,  November  i,  1805. 


ii4  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

in  casting  up  the  sum  total  of  ideas  which  were  eddy 
ing  in  the  West. 

In  the  midst  of  the  war  excitement,  in  the  winter 
of  1805,  Francisco  de  Miranda,  a  native  of  Caracas, 
landed  in  New  York.  As  early  as  1793  he  had  tried 
to  draw  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  into  a 
war  for  the  liberation  of  his  native  country.  Failing 
then,  he  went  to  the  Continent,  where  he  became  a 
distinguished  wanderer,  taking  high  rank  in  the  armies 
of  both  France  and  Russia.  It  was  truly  an  auspicious 
time  for  him  to  revive  his  scheme  of  rebellion  in  Vene 
zuela,  for  war  between  Spain  and  the  United  States 
appeared  to  be  only  a  matter  of  days.  Finding  gener 
ous  friends  in  New  York,  he  soon  had  the  Leander 
fitted  out  with  arms  and  provisions,  and  February  2, 
1806,  sailed  on  his  ill-fated  voyage. 

The  part  played  by  the  Government  in  this  affair 
is,  to  say  the  least,  not  above  suspicion,  for  both  Jeffer 
son  and  Madison  knew  something  of  what  was  going 
on ;  but  for  us  what  is  of  most  value  in  this  connection 
is  to  know  that  the  expedition  was  watched  with  the 
greatest  interest  throughout  the  Union,  especially  in 
the  West.  The  newspapers  of  the  time  were  full  of 
Miranda,  and  the  tone  of  the  comment  was  most  con 
vincing.  A  single  paragraph  from  the  Charleston 
Courier,  quoted  in  the  Orleans  Gazette,  will  suffice  i1— 

"The  expedition  under  General  Miranda,  from  a  va 
riety  of  circumstances,  promises  to  be  attended  with  suc 
cess.  The  dissatisfaction  of  the  people  generally  with  the 
Spanish  Government,  and  particularly  the  priests,  who, 

^Orleans  Gazette,  July  4,  1806. 


THE  CRISIS  ON  THE  FRONTIER   115 

by  a  late  decree  of  the  court  of  Madrid,  are  deprived  of 
the  principal  parts  of  the  revenues  of  the  church,  will 
induce  them  to  seek  a  change  of  masters ;  to  rid  them 
selves  at  once  of  the  most  abject  state  of  slavery  and  ig 
norance  and  from  the  fiend-like  influence  of  the  Prince 
of  Peace.  .  .  .  What  has  the  Spanish  Government  to 
oppose  him  [Miranda]  ?  Nothing.  The  provinces  are 
without  troops,  or  at  least  they  are  not  sufficient  to  drive 
the  revolters  from  their  purposes.  The  mother  country 
cannot  assist  them — she  has  soldiers  but  no  ships — and 
if  the  means  of  transportation  were  found,  the  British 
fleet  would  intercept  them.  .  .  . '  The  success  of  Mi 
randa  will  open  to  the  Americans  a  new  field  of  enter 
prise  ;  from  the  United  States  they  must  receive  their  sup 
plies  of  goods  and  military  stores,  and  the  products  which 
can  be  obtained  in  return  will  yield  a  good  profit.  .  .  . 
But,  we  hope,  remembering  our  own  emancipation,  we 
shall  give  our  aid  to  those  who  feel  their  rights,  and 
have  courage  enough  to  assert  them.  .  .  .  May  the 
most  brilliant  success  attend  the  standards  of  those  who 
fight  for  the  cause  of  rational  liberty,  and  for  the  dignity 
of  the  human  species." 

Such  paragraphs  need  no  discussion,  but  the  fact 
that  they  were  printed  and  reprinted  in  every  journal 
of  the  West  is  worth  remarking.  Having  been  thus 
informed  of  Miranda's  enterprise,  the  Westerners  were  / 
on  the  alert  for  any  news  from  Venezuela.  All  through  T 
the  summer  and  fall  that  Burr  and  his  associates  were 
struggling  to  make  headway  with  their  expedition  the 
newspapers  were  telling  of  Miranda's  victories,  and 
finally  of  the  rumors  of  his  defeat.  When  the  report 
came  that  he  had  been  beaten  off,  the  West  was  loath 
to  give  credence  to  it,  and  the  disappointment  was  keen 
when  it  came  positively  to  be  known  that  he  had  failed. 
There  was  not  in  all  the  West  a  word  of  disaffection. 


n6  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

In  their  toasts — and  toasts  were  of  far  greater  signifi 
cance  in  that  day  than  this — two  ideas  appear  predomi 
nant:  reverence  for  the  Union  and  hatred  for  the 
symbols  of  despotism.  Their  sympathies,  too,  for 
Miranda  betrayed  unconsciously  a  love  for  the  Con 
stitution  and  a  growing  National  spirit  which  was  in 
six  short  years  to  force,  in  spite  of  the  East  and  New 
England,  the  second  war  with  Great  Britain !  And 
yet  this  was  the  region  advertised  as  openly  rebellious 
— the  region  Yrujo  and  Merry  expected  shortly  to 
declare  its  independence.  Could  ignorance  of  condi 
tions  have  been  more  dense? 

By  the  end  of  June,  1806,  there  were  in  the  province 
of  Texas  one  thousand  and  seven  soldiers.1  The  force 
on  the  frontier,  however,  never  exceeded  six  hundred 
and  ninety-seven  men,2  which  was  considered  strong 
enough  to  sustain  the  King's  pretensions  in  that  quar 
ter.  Accordingly,  in  July,  a  body  of  troops  under 
Viana  once  more  hoisted  the  flag  of  Spain  at  Bayou 
Pierre.  August  4th  Viana  wrote  urgently  to  the  com 
mander  of  Nacogdoches  for  provisions,  complaining 
that  they  had  been  four  days  without  rations.3  The 
straits  of  the  quartermaster  were  much  intensified 
by  the  arrival  of  Herrera  with  several  companies  of 
cavalry;  while  sickness  spread  through  the  camp,  con 
verting  it  into  a  wretched  hospital.  But  the  Ameri 
cans  held  exaggerated  ideas  of  the  efficiency  of  the 
corps  under  Cordero  and  Herrera. 

'Cordero  to  Salcedo,  June  12,  1806;  MSS.  State  of  Texas 
Archives. 

'Herrera  to  Salcedo,  November  8,  1806;  MSS.  Bexar  Archives. 
'Viana  to  Rodriguez,  August  4,  1806;  MSS.  Bexar  Archives. 


THE  CRISIS  ON  THE  FRONTIER    117 

The  news  of  the  recrossing  of  the  Sabine  by  the 
Spaniards  spread  rapidly  through  the  country,  rousing 
the  inhabitants  to  arms — for  the  hated  enemy  appeared 
once  more  as  invaders.  The  Governor  of  Louisiana 
was  at  Concordia,  near  Natchez — having  been  granted 
a  leave  of  absence  to  visit  his  home  in  Tennessee — when 
the  intelligence  reached  him.  August  I7th  he  met 
Cowles  Meade,  the  Acting-Governor  of  Mississippi 
Territory,  at  Natchez,  and  a  joint  proclamation  was 
issued.  The  people  were  called  upon  to  aid  the  regular 
troops  in  expelling  the  Spaniards  from  Bayou  Pierre, 
if  the  orders  of  the  War  Department  had  not  been 
revoked;  they  were  to  be  put  on  a  campaign  footing, 
the  militia  of  the  Mississippi  Territory  being  ready  to 
march  to  the  frontier  or  to  defend  New  Orleans,  as  the 
circumstances  might  require.  The  continued  absence 
of  Wilkinson  was  remarked  and  regretted.1  But  Clai- 
borne  felt  he  had  no  time  to  lose.  "Having  heard  that 
a  considerable  force  of  Spaniards  [is]  in  the  vicinity  of 
Natchitoches,"  he  wrote  the  same  day  to  Dr.  John 
Watkins,2  "I  propose  setting  out  to-morrow  for  the 
counties  of  Rapides  and  Natchitoches,  for  the  purpose 
of  putting  the  militia  in  the  best  possible  state." 

Before  Claiborne  had  started,  a  Pinckneyville  cor 
respondent  of  the  Orleans  Gazette  reported  that  Lieu 
tenant  Smith  had  arrived  from  Natchitoches  with 
orders  for  Colonel  Kingsbury  to  march  forward  with 
all  the  troops  at  Fort  Adams.  Nine  hundred  men 
under  the  Governor  of  Texas,  so  the  report  ran,  had 

^Journal,  p.  230.    Claiborne's  Correspondence,  Orleans  Terri 
tory,  vol.  iv.,  MSS.  State  Department  Archives, 
journal,  p.  228. 


ii&  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

advanced  to  within  twelve  miles  of  Natchitoches,  where 
they  were  met  by  a  flag  from  Major  Porter,  demanding 
an  explanation  of  this  new  encroachment;  to  which 
they  answered  that  they  meant  to  reoccupy  their  for 
mer  positions.  An  engagement  had  therefore  probably 
taken  place,  if  the  Spaniards  persisted  in  their  under 
taking.1  The  reporter  was  not  aware,  however,  that 

:  the  commander  at  Natchitoches  was  bound  by  supple 
mentary  instructions  from  the  head  of  the  army,  which 
forbade  the  enforcement  of  the  orders  from  the  Secre 
tary  of  War.  Wilkinson  was  already  disposing  of 

•'  things  to  suit  himself. 

Claiborne  entered  at  once  into  a  sharp  controversy 
with  Herrera.  On  the  twenty-sixth  he  complained  of 
several  acts  of  unfriendliness — the  setting  at  liberty  of 
runaway  slaves,  the  capture  of  three  Americans  (Irwin, 
Shaw,  and  Brewster),  and  the  invasion  of  the  territory 
of  the  United  States.  Herrera  did  not  deny  the  first 
two  charges,  but  returned  his  demurrer  to  the  third. 
At  this  juncture  he  fell  ill,  and  Claiborne  courteously 
sent  Dr.  Hayward  to  attend  him.  The  Governor,  how 
ever,  did  not  mean  to  suspend  operations — he  urged 
the  fulfillment  of  the  instructions  from  Washington, 
which  commanded  that  all  foreign  troops  should  be 
driven  to  the  west  of  the  Sabine.  Colonel  Cushing 
explained  that  this  would  be  contrary  to  the  mandate 
of  Wilkinson ;  and  thereupon  the  Governor  gave  vent 
to  his  suspicions  in  a  letter  to  Meade :  "My  present 
impression  is  that  'all  is  not  right/  I  know  not  whom 
to  censure,  but  it  seems  to  me  that  there  is  wrong 

^Orleans  Gazette,  August  22,  1806. 


THE  CRISIS  ON  THE  FRONTIER    119 

somewhere.  Either  the  orders  to  Major  Porter  (which 
have  been  published)  ought  not  to  have  been  issued, 
or  they  should  have  been  adhered  to  and  supported."  * 
It  was,  indeed,  hard  for  a  layman  to  understand  how 
even  a  general  could  set  in  abeyance  the  commands 
of  his  superior ;  there  was  wrong  somewhere,  but  this 
was  as  near  as  the  good-natured,  honest  Governor  ever 
came  to  its  discovery.  The  day  he  wrote  Meade  he 
addressed  two  letters  quite  free  from  suspicions  to  the 
War  Department: 

"The  Spanish  troops  have  made  a  retrograde  move 
ment,"  he  reported  August  28th;2  "they  have  advanced 
their  main  body  to  within  seventeen  miles  of  Natchi- 
toches,  and  their  patrols  as  far  as  the  Bayou  Funda  [Ar 
royo  Hondo],  to  which  place  it  is  contended  the  province 
of  Texas  extends  (this  bayou  is  about  seven  miles  from 
Natchitoches)  ;  but  within  these  few  days  past  they  have 
fallen  back  to  the  settlement  of  Bayou  Pierre,  about  fifty 
or  sixty  miles  distant  from  Natchitoches.  Their  num 
bers  are  conjectured  to  be  1,000,  the  greater  part  cavalry, 
and  reinforcements  are  daily  expected.  They  are  amply 
supplied  with  beef  cattle,  but  it  is  said  a  scarcity  of  bread 
is  experienced.  ...  I  have  found  the  Americans,  who 
are  settled  in  the  frontier  counties,  devoted  to  their 
country,  and  solicitous  to  be  called  into  service." 

The  second  letter,  a  week  later,  recounted  as  current 
report  that  the  Spaniards  at  Bayou  Pierre  numbered 
1200;  that  the  Governor  of  Texas  was  approaching 
with  three  hundred  regulars ;  that  two  regiments  from 
Vera  Cruz  were  to  land  at  the  mouth  of  the  Trinity; 
and  that  the  Viceroy  and  the  Council  of  Mexico  were 
alone  responsible  for  the  military  movements,  the  Court 

'Claiborne  to  Meade,  September  9,  1806;  Journal,  p.  269. 
2Journal,  p.  243. 


120  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

of  Spain  having  no  part  in  it.  It  was  mentioned  that 
Colonel  Cushing  was  restrained  from  acting  on  the 
offensive  by  Wilkinson's  commands;  that  the  Colonel 
in  the  meantime  was  making  arrangements  to  take  the 
field,  while  he  (Claiborne)  was  preparing  the  militia.1 
After  his  experiences  in  the  administration  of  the 
municipality  of  New  Orleans,  where  he  found  only 
antagonisms  and  imbittered  factions,  political  and 
social,  it  gave  him  extreme  pleasure,  as  he  wrote  Cush 
ing,  to  note  the  enthusiasm  of  the  people.2  The  una 
nimity  with  which  they  responded  to  the  defense  of  the 
country  was  certainly  gratifying  to  him  and  to  those 
in  the  high  places  of  the  Government,  who  were  in  daily 
expectation  of  the  herald  of  war. 

The  Cabinet  early  resigned  itself  to  the  situation. 
When  the  news  of  the  expulsion  of  Gonzales  reached 
Washington  a  meeting  was  held,  the  result  of  which 
the  President  reported  to  Dearborn,  who  was  absent : — 

"Six  war  vessels  are  to  be  kept  before  New  Orleans," 
ran  the  note ;  "three  in  Lake  Pontchartrain.  Blockhouses 
and  other  defenses  are  to  be  erected  at  suitable  places  on 
the  defiles  of  New  Orleans.  The  troops  are  to  remain 
off  the  island  on  account  of  their  health,  but  they  are  to 
be  ready  to  march  at  notice.  The  militia  of  New  Orleans, 
Tombigbee,  and  Natchez  are  to  be  put  in  the  best  pos 
sible  condition;  those  at  New  Orleans  to  defend  that 
city;  those  on  the  Tombigbee  to  seize  Mobile  or  Pensa- 
cola,  or  follow  if  the  Spanish  troops  from  either  of  these 
threaten  New  Orleans.  These  orders  are  to  be  carried 
out  with  as  little  noise  as  possible."5 

While  these  were  wholly  defensive  measures,  the 

journal,  p.  254. 
'Journal,  p.  272. 
'Jefferson  to  Dearborn,  April  26,  1806;  Jefferson  MSS. 


THE  CRISIS  ON  THE  FRONTIER   121 

state  of  mind  of  the  Government  is  clearly  reflected 
therein.  If  anything  was  left  in  doubt,  this  was  shortly 
removed  by  the  Executive.  May  6,  1806,  when  the  fol 
lowing  orders  went  forward  to  General  Wilkinson,  the 
challenge  was  accepted,  and  it  was  for  the  administra 
tors  of  Don  Carlos  in  the  New  World  to  say  whether 
the  Floridas,  Louisiana,  Texas,  and  the  Spanish 
Americas  should  become  legitimate  stakes  of  war. 

"From  recent  information  received  from  New  Orleans 
and  its  vicinity,"  wrote  the  Secretary  of  War  to  General 
Wilkinson,1  "the  hostile  views  of  the  officers  of  his  Cath 
olic  Majesty  in  that  quarter  have  been  so  evident  as  to 
require  the  strictest  precaution  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States ;  and  the  immediate  exertion  of  the  means  we  pos 
sess  for  securing  the  rightful  possession  of  the  territory 
of  the  United  States,  and  for  protecting  the  citizens  and 
their  property  from  the  hostile  encroachments  of  our 
neighbours,  the  Spaniards.  You  will,  therefore,  with  as 
little  delay  as  practicable,  repair  to  the  Territory  of  Or- 
1  ans  or  its  vicinity,  and  take  upon  yourself  the  command 
of  the  troops  in  that  quarter,  together  with  such  militia  or 
volunteers  as  may  turn  out  for  the  defense  of  the  country. 
And  you  will,  by  all  the  means  in  your  power,  repel  any 
invasion  of  the  territory  of  the  United  States  east  of  the 
River  Sabine,  or  north  or  west  of  the  bounds  of  what 
has  been  called  West  Florida." 

There  could  be  no  mistaking  the  meaning  of  these 
orders;  they  were  explicit  and  final.  Though  it  was 
true  "every  day  increased  our  prospects  of  war,"  as  the 
General  wrote,  he  was  detained  in  St.  Louis  for  three 
months  by  "various  and  unavoidable  obstacles."  What 
these  distressing  impediments  were  we  are  left  to  sur 
mise.  Certain  it  is  the  petty  political  intrigue  between 

Wilkinson's  Memoirs,  ii.,  Ap.  xc. 


122  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

himself  on  the  one  side  and  Major  Bruff  and  Colonel 
Hammond  on  the  other  offers  no  explanation.1  He 
wrote  John  Smith  very  soon  after  the  receipt  of  the 
dispatch  of  May  6th :  "I  shall  obey  the  military  man 
date,  for  there  I  look  for  fame  and  honor."3  He  was 
therefore  apparently  eager  to  proceed.  Why  the  delay  ? 
Is  it  not  possible  that  Clark  gave  us  the  key  when  he 
said  that  the  General  wrote  Burr,  "I  shall  be  ready 
before  you"  ?  His  procrastination  was  deliberate,  and 
could  have  been  for  no  other  purpose  than  to  await  the 
development  of  the  conspiracy. 

Wilkinson  landed  in  Natchez  the  night  of  Sep 
tember  7th,  and  the  next  day  outlined  his  programme 
to  Dearborn :  "I  shall  drain  the  cup  of  conciliation  to 
maintain  the  peace  of  our  country,"  he  vaunted ;  but  in 
the  preceding  paragraph  he  had  remarked  that  he  hoped 
the  Spaniards  would  remain  at  Bayou  Pierre  until  he 
arrived,  and  he  had  taken  occasion  to  say  that  both 
Meade  and  Claiborne  favored  expelling  the  enemy  alto 
gether,  not  leaving  them  so  much  as  a  guard  at  Bayou 
Pierre. 

"Governor  Claiborne  has,  I  understand,  arrayed  the 
militia  in  the  western  counties  of  the  Territory  of 
Orleans,"  he  continued,8  "but  I  shall  discourage  their 
march  until  I  have  penetrated  the  designs  of  the  Span 
iard,  and  may  find  him  deaf  to  the  solemn  appeal  which 
I  shall  make  to  his  understanding,  his  interest,  and  his 
duty.  .  .  .  Should  I  be  forced  to  appeal  to  arms,  to 
drive  them  effectually  beyond  the  Sabine  or  cut  them 

Wilkinson  to  Dearborn,  June  17,  1806;  Jefferson  MSS. 
John  Smith  to  Jefferson,  August  8,  1806;  Jefferson  MSS. 

'Wilkinson  to  Smith,  June   17,   1806;  Jefferson  MSS. 

sWilkinson  to  Dearborn,  September  8,  1806;  Annals  of  Con 
gress,  1807-08,  Ap.,  p.  568. 


I 

THE  CRISIS  ON  THE  FRONTIER    123 

up,  I  shall  endeavor  to  procure  about  four  or  five  hun 
dred  dragoons  and  mounted  militia  from  the  two  terri 
tories.  ...  A  blow  once  struck,  it  would  appear 
expedient  that  we  should  make  every  advantage  of  it ;  and 
if  men  and  means  are  furnished  I  will  soon  plant  our 
standards  on  the  left  bank  of  Grand  River." 

The  "designs  of  the  Spaniard"  must  have  been 
seen  at  a  glance,  for  at  no  moment  was  the  march 
of  the  militia  discouraged.  Moreover,  to  have  spoken 
of  designs  was  deliberate  and  calculated  to  work  on  the 
fears  of  the  Government;  he  had  assumed  the  extraor 
dinary  role  he  was  to  play  to  the  end.  While  inditing 
this  to  Dearborn  he  was  making  arrangements  with 
Governor  Meade  for  the  volunteers  of  Mississippi  Ter 
ritory  to  join  him,  and  giving  orders  for  the  strength 
ening  of  various  posts.  Pointe  Coupee  was  to  be  re- 
enforced  with  seventy-five  men,  which  number,  with  a 
detachment  of  militia,  he  thought  sufficient  to  capture 
the  Spanish  Governor,  Grand  Pre,  with  his  garrison  in 
Baton  Rouge.  Two  hundred  militia  were  to  be  added 
to  the  force  on  the  Tombigbee,  and  the  commander  was 
to  be  ready  to  invest  Mobile,  while  another  body  was 
to  make  a  feint  on  Pensacola  to  prevent  reinforcements 
being  sent  to  the  former.  These  instructions  given, 
Wilkinson  started  for  the  front  via  Rapides  on  the  Red 
River,  at  which  place  Claiborne  awaited  him.  On  the 
nineteenth  the  General  appeared.  He  then  addressed 
the  Governor,  discussing  the  menacing  attitude  of 
Spain,  and  advising  the  issuance  of  a  proclamation 
interdicting  intercourse  between  the  contending  parties, 
save  as  regulated  under  passports.  He  argued  that  this 
was  warranted  because  of  the  vigorous  policy  pursued 


i24  THE  AARON   BURR  CONSPIRACY 

by  the  enemy  in  permitting  no  one  to  pass  to  Nacog- 
doches  unless  known  to  be  attached  to  Spain.  Through 
this  system  of  intercourse  they  were  advised  of  all  our 
plans,  while  we  remained  ignorant  of  theirs.  Next  he 
asked  for  the  troops  in  New  Orleans  and  every  militia 
man  to'  be  spared,  and  he  wanted  them  to  assemble  at 
Natchitoches  early  in  October.1  Claiborne  replied  the 
same  day  that  he  could  not  issue  the  proclamation  for 
fear  of  retaliatory  measures  being  pursued  by  West 
Florida ;  the  same  effect,  he  thought,  might  be  produced 
by  prohibiting  communications  through  Natchitoches, 
the  only  open  route.  Wilkinson  could  close  this  by 
issuing  an  order  to  prevent  the  passage  of  provisions 
to  the  Spaniards.  As  to  the  militia,  the  Governor 
promised  a  force  of  four  hundred ;  the  rest,  because  of 
the  nature  of  the  country  to  be  defended,  were  to  be 
reserved  for  emergencies.2  Claiborne's  steps  had  been 
taken  with  a  view  to  war,  and  he  urged  upon  the  Gen 
eral  that  "no  time  ought  to  be  lost  in  preparing  to  vin 
dicate  the  national  rights." 

The  inhabitants  of  the  rural  districts  thought  like 
wise.  They  came  with  such  alacrity  that  in  one  in 
stance  a  call  for  one  hundred  volunteers  was  answered 
by  two  hundred  and  fifteen.  October  3d  was  the  day 
appointed  for  the  general  rendezvous  at  Natchitoches, 
the  headquarters  of  the  American  army,  which  place 
Wilkinson  reached  September  22d,  two  weeks  having 
been  spent  on  a  journey  accomplished  in  three  days  and 
a  half  on  his  return.  If  Claiborne  and  the  people  were 

'Journal,  pp.  285-288. 
'Journal,  pp.  289-290. 


THE  CRISIS  ON  THE  FRONTIER   125 

chafing  under  delay  and  were  eager  to  drive  back  the 
Dons,  the  commander  of  the  army  was  still  moving 
leisurely.  The  day  Wilkinson  left  Rapides  the  Gov 
ernor  started  for  New  Orleans,  and  the  evening  of 
October  6th  reentered  his  capital,  where  things  were  in 
a  stir  of  excitement.  The  news  that  war  was  im 
pending  was  hailed  with  enthusiasm.  The  Orleans 
Gazette,  the  leading  journal  of  the  city  and  the  mouth 
piece  of  the  Americans,  came  out  in  a  long  article, 
which,  after  having  announced  that  General  Wilkinson 
had  gone  to  the  frontier,  gave  vent  to  pure  revolu 
tionary  sentiment : — 

"We  are  happy  to  learn  that  the  Government  has  at 
length  issued  positive  orders  to  repel  the  aggressions  of 
our  enemies  by  force.  We  have  indeed  suffered  from 
them,  almost  beyond  human  endurance.  Their  intrigues 
to  disturb  the  repose  of  this  country;  their  maintaining 
possession  of  our  territory  between  the  Mississippi  and 
Perdido  for  upwards  of  two  years ;  their  outrageous  con 
duct  towards  our  citizens  on  the  banks  of  the  Tombig- 
bee ; — these  and  a  thousand  other  injuries  and  insults  de 
mand  instant  redress.  ...  If  the  enemy  be  forced  to  re- 
cross  the  Sabine,  he  must  be  driven  still  farther;  for  it 
would  be  idle  to  suffer  him  to  remain  there  quietly  until  he 
received  reinforcements  from  the  Southern  provinces, 
which  could  easily  be  furnished  him,  inasmuch  as  the  route 
from  Natchitoches  to  Mexico  is  clear,  plain,  and  open ;  and 
the  country  through  which  it  passes  well  stored  with  cattle 
and  forage.  How  it  may  be  proper  to  pursue  the  enemy 
is  a  question  of  policy  for  our  Government  to  decide.  On 
this  we  may  sincerely  rely  that  our  President,  who  had 
so  large  a  share  in  accomplishing  the  independence  of  the 
United  States,  will  seize  with  eagerness  and  exultation 
ran  honorable  occasiorr'that  may  offer  for  conferring  on 
our  oppressed  Spanish  brethren  in  Mexico  those  inestim 
able  blessings  of  freedom  which  we  ourselves  enjoy. 


126  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

.  .  .  Gallant  Louisianians !  now  is  the  time  to  distin 
guish  yourselves.  .  .  .  Should  the  generous  efforts 
of  our  Government  to  establish  a  free,  independent  repub 
lican  empire  in  Mexico  be  successful,  how  fortunate,  how 
enviable  would  be  the  situation  in  New  Orleans!  The 
deposit  at  once  of  the  countless  treasures  of  the  South,  and 
the  inexhaustible  fertility  of  the  Western  States,  we 
would  soon  rival  and  outshine  the  most  opulent  cities  of 
the  world."1 

This  language  seems  none  the  less  remarkable  when 
we  know  that  it  came  from  the  pen  of  Editor  Bradford, 
who,  a  few  weeks  later,  was  throttled  by  Wilkinson  on 
a  charge  of  misprision  of  treason  against  the  United 
States.  He  was  a  coadjutor  of  Burr,  to  whose  enter 
prise  he  doubtless  referred  when  he  wrote  that  the 
President  would  seize  with  eagerness  and  exultation  an 
honorable  occasion  "for  conferring  on  our  oppressed 
Spanish  brethren  in  Mexico  those  inestimable  blessings 
of  freedom  which  we  ourselves  enjoy."  The  document 
truly  exhibits  the  underlying  motives  in  all  great 
revolutionary  movements — the  vindication  of  rights, 
the  freeing  of  oppressed  peoples,  and  finally  the  mate 
rial  reward.  If  war  with  Spain  was  avoided  for  almost 
a  century,  it  was  not  for  lack  of  moral  support  that  it 
failed  in  1806;  nor  does  this  admission  do  justice  to 
the  revolutionary  audience  that  applauded  the  senti 
ments  uttered  by  the  Orleans  Gazette,  nor  to  the  men 
who  hurried  to  arms  at  the  call  of  danger. 

From  Fort  Adams  and  Natchez  came  the  news  that 
every  preparation  was  being  made  to  repel  the  Spanish 
encroachments,  and  that  all  the  regular  troops  had 

^Orleans  Gazette,  September  23,  1806. 


THE  CRISIS  ON  THE  FRONTIER   127 

marched  under  Captain  Sparks  for  Natchitoches. 
Major  Ferdinand  L.  Claiborne  was  expected  to  pass 
toward  the  frontier  at  any  hour  at  the  head  of  the 
Mississippi  militia  and  Captain  Farrar's  dragoons.1 
October  8th  Claiborne  informed  the  Secretary  of  War 
that  the  militia  from  the  frontier  counties,  more  than 
five  hundred  strong,  had  reported  at  Natchitoches,  and 
that  a  detachment  of  one  hundred  regulars  with  mili 
tary  stores  would  set  out  in  a  few  days  from  New 
Orleans.2  Thus  the  American  Army  in  the  West 
rapidly  concentrated  at  the  old  French  trading  post. 
The  temper  of  the  volunteers  was  no  longer  questioned. 
Claiborne  wrote  Dearborn  on  the  twelfth  that  he  was 
surprised  at  the  readiness  with  which  the  ancient  Lou- 
isianians  took  up  arms.  He  conveyed  also  the  intelli 
gence  that  Wilkinson  had  written  in  his  last  letter 
(dated  September  25th)  that  unless  his  orders  were 
countermanded  he  "would  soon  have  a  meeting  with 
the  Spaniards."3  It  looked  as  though  the  fate  of  the 
nation  as  to  peace  or  war  hung  on  Wilkinson's  word. 
This  was  the  war  which  was  to  have  called  Burr's 
expedition  into  open  array.  Senator  Adair  avowed 
that  "on  this  war  taking  place  he  [Burr]  calculated 
with  certainty,  as  well  from  the  policy  of  the  measure 
at  the  time,  as  from  the  positive  assurances  of  Wilkin 
son,  who  seemed  to  have  the  power  to  force  it  in  his 
hands."4  Wilkinson  had  gone  further  in  his  confidence 
with  Adair,  and,  after  the  failure  of  the  conspiracy, 

^Orleans  Gazette,  October  3,  1806. 
"Journal,  p.  305. 
journal,  p.  311. 

*Letter  of  General  Adair,  dated  Washington  City,  March  4, 
1807. 


128  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

attempted  to  disparage  his  character,  accusing  the  Ken- 
tuckian  of  having  gone  to  New  Orleans  in  the  fall  of 
1806  in  the  "dark."  1  Adair  retaliated,  quoting  from 
the  General's  letters.  In  answer  to  a  question  in  Adair's 
correspondence  of  January  2/th — "Pray  how  far  is  it, 
and  what  kind  of  way  from  St.  Louis  to  Santa  Fe,  and 
from  thence  to  Mexico?"  2 — Wilkinson  wrote: 

"Do  you  know  that  I  have  reserved  these  places  for 
my  own  triumphal  entry,  that  I  have  been  reconnoitering 
and  exploring  the  route  for  sixteen  years ;  that  I  not  only 
know  the  way,  but  all  the  difficulties  and  how  to  surmount 
them?  I  wish  we  could  get  leave,  Mexico  would  soon 
be  ours." 

More  significant  is  his  letter  of  September  28th 
from  Natchitoches,  in  which  Adair  was  assured  that 
within  six  or  eight  days  the  sword  would  be  drawn : 

"The  time  long  looked  for  by  many  and  wished  for 
by  more,  has  now  arrived  for  subverting  the  Spanish 
government  in  Mexico.  Be  you  ready  and  join  me ;  we 
will  want  little  more  than  light-armed'  troops  with  a  few 

More  will  be  done  by  marching  than  fighting; 

5,000  men  will  give  us  to  Rio ;  10,000  to ; 

we  must  here  divide  our  army  into  three  parts  and  will 
then  require  30,000  men  to  conquer  the  whole  of  the  prov 
inces  of  Mexico.  We  cannot  fail  of  success."8 

Adair  challenged  the  President  to  look  into  Wilkin 
son's  conduct:  "The  Executive  of  the  United  States 

Wilkinson's  Letter,  Palladium,  May  21,  1807. 

Wilkinson's  Memoirs,  ii.,  Ap.  Ixxvii. 

'Letter  to  Editor  Bradford  of  the  Orleans  Gazette,  published 
June  16,  1807;  copied  in  the  Palladium  for  July  i6th.  The  blanks 
are  in  the  copy. 


THE  CRISIS  ON  THE  FRONTIER    129 

seems  to  think  it  an  unpardonable  offense  to  meditate 
an  expedition  against  the  government,  or  rather  the 
tyranny  of  Spain,  by  a  citizen  of  the  United  States 
prior  to  a  declaration  of  war.  Let  him  then  prosecute 
Wilkinson." 

What  character  the  war  was  to  have  assumed  it  is 
impossible  to  say;  but  war  in  some  form  was  thought 
by  Wilkinson  to  be  certain.  His  letter  to  Adair  had 
been  preceded  by  one  written  from  Rapides,  September 
1 8th,  to  a  gentleman  in  Cincinnati,  in  which  he  graph 
ically  pointed  out  the  situation  i1 — 

"My  orders  and  the  conduct  of  the  Mexicans  are  so 
much  at  variance,  and  the  Spanish  commander  at  the 
head  of  fifteen  or  eighteen  hundred  men,  has  treated  the 
strong  remonstrances  of  Governor  Claiborne  and  Colonel 
Cushing  with  such  slight,  after  having  traversed  the  ter 
ritory  east  of  the  Sabine,  where  he  has  taken  his  nearest 
post,  and  menaced  our  establishment  at  Natchitoches,  that 
I  foresee  an  inevitable  appeal  to  arms  in  the  course  of 
twelve  days,  if  the  Spaniards  should  not  recede  or  I  receive 
counter  orders.  And  as  Governor  Herrera  is  an  officer 
who  has  risen  by  his  sword,  and  is  reputed  a  man  of  great 
pride  and  spirit,  I  think  it  probable  he  will  adhere  to  his 
solemn  promise  to  maintain  and  defend  his  master's  ter 
ritorial  pretensions  to  a  point  within  seven  miles  of  our 
post,  and  fifty  east  of  the  Sabine.  Under  these  circum 
stances,  but  with  a  solemn  determination  to  drain  the  cup 
of  conciliation  before  I  draw  the  sword,  I  have  called  for 
about  seven  hundred  militia,  which  is  the  sum  total  I 
am  to  expect  from  this  Territory  and  the  Mississippi  Ter 
ritory,  to  be  assembled  at  Natchitoches  the  fifth  prox. 
It  is  not  improbable  hostilities  at  this  point  will  be  in 
stantly  followed  by  an  appeal  to  arms  in  West  Florida. 
I  will  write  you  again  in  about  ten  days,  when  I  fear  you 
will  be  informed  blood  has  been  spilt.  I  have  two  Span- 

*National  Intelligencer,  November  17,  1806. 


1 30  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

ish  Governors  opposed  to  me,  Herrera  and  Cordero,  of 
whom  and  their  two  thousand  men,  I  shall  with  less  than 
twelve  hundred  give  a  good  account." 

In  spite  of  exaggerations  concerning  the  strength 
of  the  enemy,  Wilkinson  had  grasped  the  essentials  of 
the  situation.  War  could  be  circumvented  in  two  ways 
— by  the  withdrawal  of  the  Spaniards,  or  by  modified 
orders  from  the  Executive.  The  latter  exigency,  how 
ever,  was  not  to  be  anticipated ;  but  already  the  possible 
contingency  of  the  former  appealed  to  him.  He  feared 
for  his  plans,  but  took  courage,  knowing  that  Herrera, 
a  man  of  "pride  and  spirit/'  had  vowed  to  maintain  his 
Majesty's  territorial  pretensions.  Nevertheless,  Wil 
kinson  was  far  too  cunning  to  be  found  at  the  end 
of  his  resources.  His  career  of  double-dealing  in  Ken 
tucky — where,  at  the  same  moment,  he  had  flattered 
Miro  with  the  prospect  of  drawing  the  West  into  the 
Spanish  net  and  indited  a  pleasant  petition  to  Congress 
— was  destined  to  be  far  eclipsed.  And  he  was  not  long 
in  giving  evidence  of  his  disposition.  He  wrote  at 
length  to  Senator  Smith : 

"I  have  made  the  last  effort  at  conciliation  in  a  solemn 
appeal  to  Governor  Cordero,  at  Nacogdoches,  who  is  in 
command  on  this  frontier;  Colonel  Cushing  bore  my 
letter  and  is  now  with  the  don.  I  expect  his  return  in 
four  days,  and  then — I  believe,  my  friend,  I  believe  I  shall 
be  obliged  to  fight  and  to  flog  them,  for  I  shall  advance 
into  the  contested  tract  the  moment  I  have  provided 
horses  for  four  light  pieces  of  artillery,  our  camp  equi 
pages,  and  a  little  provision.  The  orders  of  the  Spaniards 
are,  I  know,  peremptory  to  maintain  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  grounds  to  the  sovereign ;  of  consequence,  they  must 
make  an  attempt  to  oppose  me ;  and  I  shall  as  surely  push 


THE  CRISIS  ON  THE  FRONTIER    131 

them  over  the  Sabine  and  out  of  Nacogdoches  as  that 
you  are  alive,  although  they  outnumber  me  three  to  one. 
What  may  follow,  I  know,  for  I  verily  believe  that  prepa 
rations  have  been  made  in  the  interior  of  the  provinces, 
to  bring  forward  to  this  frontier  as  many  men  as  they 
may  deem  necessary,  and  commanding  as  they  do  a  thou 
sand  or  a  million  of  mules  and  horses  at  their  will,  with 
a  country  covered  with  beef  cattle,  no  difficulty  can  occur 
on  the  score  of  provisions.  If  therefore,  this  business 
should  not  be  speedily  terminated  by  negociations  you 
must  speedily  send  me  a  force  to  support  our  pretensions, 
or  we  must  yield  them  up,  together  with  the  Territory 
of  Orleans.  Five  thousand  mounted  infantry  to  operate 
as  dragoons,  or  fight  on  foot,  may  suffice  to  carry  us 
forward  as  far  as  the  Grand  River ;  %  there  we  shall 
require  five  thousand  more  to  conduct  us  to  Monterey,  the 
capital  of  the  province  of  Nuevo  Reino  de  Leon ;  after 
which,  from  twenty  to  thirty  thousand  will  be  necessary 
to  carry  our  conquests  to  California,  and  the  Isthmus  of 
Darien.  I  write  in  haste,  freely  and  confidentially." 

Perhaps  nowhere  does  Wilkinson  betray  more  of 
what  he  hoped  the  crisis  would  lead  to.  The  forces  that 
Smith  was  to  send  him  were  none  other  than  those 
gathering  under  the  auspices  of  Burr  along  the  Ohio 
and  the  Cumberland ;  and  these  were  to  save  the  Terri 
tory  of  Orleans  and  "carry  our  conquests  to  California 
and  the  Isthmus  of  Darien."  Wilkinson  had  not  yet 
discovered  that  Smith  was  a  traitor,  and  that  the  men 
he  solicited  plotted  not  only  the  conquest  of  Spanish 
America  to  the  Isthmus,  but  also  the  subjugation  of  the 
Mississippi  Valley! 

If  Wilkinson,  like  many  others,  believed  it  possible 
to  overrun  so  much  of  the  soil  owning  the  allegiance  of 
weak-minded  Carlos,  the  tireless  locksmith  and  sports 
man,  it  was  not  easy  of  accomplishment.  So  confident 


132  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

were  the  Spaniards  in  Mexico,  they  were  disposed  to 
sneer.  The  official  organ  of  the  viceroyalty,  the  Gazeta 
de  Mexico — commenting  on  some  paragraphs  from  the 
Moniteur  de  la  Louisiane,  the  journal  of  the  French 
population  of  New  Orleans,  concerning  the  advance 
of  the  Americans — shows  that  there  were  fears  of  an 
invasion.  While  nothing  serious  was  anticipated,  the 
Americans  were  roundly  abused. 

"Nobody  doubts,"  penned  the  arrogant  editor  of  the 
Gazeta';  "that  if  these  forces  have  determined  to  enter 
the  dominions  of  the  King  of  Spain  (to  prevent  the  shed 
ding  of  blood,  as  they  say),  the  few  troops  we  have  there 
will  be  driven  back  and  the  country  occupied.  But  this 
will  be  unavailing  in  the  face  of  the  measures  taken  by 
the  commander  of  the  Internal  Provinces,  Don  Nemesio 
Salcedo.  ...  In  conclusion,  if  the  Americans  con 
tinue  the  hostilities  (perhaps  for  maliciousness)  which 
they  propose,  they  will  retire  crushed  and  broken  (con 
los  cascos  machacados)" 

The  defiant  spirit  of  the  Capital  was  but  feebly 
echoed  in  the  camps  along  the  Sabine,  where  were 
starvation  and  insubordination.  That  the  corps  under 
Cordero  and  Herrera  were  infected  with  treason  and 
mutiny  was  unknown  to  Iturrigaray  and  his  coterie 
of  political  marplots.  Indeed,  had  they  been  aware  of 
it,  tnere  was  little  remedy ;  the  moneys  which  ought  to 
have  been  expended  for  the  provinces,  for  the  army 
guarding  the  rich  lands  of  Texas,  for  hundreds  of 
needs  of  the  colonies,  were  exported  to  replenish  the 
empty  tills  of  the  home  Government.  Every  interest 
of  the  colonies  was  sacrificed  on  the  altar  of  the 

*Gaseta  de  Mexico,  November  5,  1806;  Mexican  Archives. 


THE  CRISIS  ON  THE  FRONTIER   133 

Metropolis,  which  was  as  blind  and  deaf  as  its  agents 
to  the  unfolding  revolution;  as  insensible  of  the  fact 
that  the  whole  fabric  of  the  Spanish  colonial  system 
was  rotten  and  to  be  cast  away.  If  the  King  expected 
the  unhappy  Criollos  to  execute  against  the  Ameri 
cans  the  dire  prediction  uttered  by  the  Gazeia,  the 
short  space  of  four  years  brought  answer  in  the  Grito 
of  Hidalgo  at  Dolores,  and  in  the  slaughtering  of  the 
Gachitpines  in  the  Alhondiga  of  Las  Granaditas.  As 
to  the  leaders,  Cordero  was  stern  with  age  and  a 
thorough-going  Spaniard;  but  Herrera,  who  had  trav 
eled  and  was  familiar  with  the  system  of  government 
of  the  United  States  and  the  language  of  its  people 
(one  of  whom  he  had  wed),  was  the  last  man  to  bring, 
if  escape  were  possible,  a  calamity  upon  the  country 
he  served. 

Cordero,  the  ranking  officer,  was  encamped  at 
Nacogdoches.  About  half  the  army  was  under  his 
immediate  direction,  while  the  rest,  some  four  hundred 
men,  under  Herrera  bivouacked  at  Bayou  Pierre.  But 
when  Wilkinson  reached  Natchitoches  it  was  not  with 
Herrera,  commander  of  the  offending  corps,  that  he 
opened  communications.  The  day  following  his  arrival 
he  made  his  first  remonstrance  to  Cordero.  Referring 
briefly  to  the  correspondence  which  had  passed  between 
Cordero  and  Cushing,  Herrera  and  Claiborne,  the  Gen 
eral  plunged  into  a  discussion  of  the  merits  of  our  terri 
torial  claims,  laying  special  emphasis  on  the  French 
view.  In  his  characteristic  language  he  explained  that 
the  President  had  ordered  him  to  hold  the  east  bank  of 
the  Sabine  as  the  temporary  limit  of  the  United  States, 


i34  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

and  that  he  meant  to  do  this  at  any  cost.  The  Spanish 
troops  to  the  east  of  the  Sabine  were  invaders,  as  the 
Government  had  pronounced  them  on  a  former  occa 
sion,  and  if  they  chose  not  to  evacuate,  then  must  they 
be  expelled  by  force.1 

Cordero's  reply,  dated  September  29th,  was  curt 
and  anything  but  satisfactory.  It  was  not  in  his  power, 
he  said,  to  act  contrary  to  the  orders  of  his  superior, 
and  they  forbade  yielding  the  point  under  discussion. 
While  he  regretted  the  situation  he  could  do  noth 
ing  until  he  heard  from  Salcedo,  to  whom  he  had 
dispatched  a  special  messenger.  This  situation  was 
apparently  all  that  Wilkinson  could  wish.  The\motley 
Mexican  militia  would  not  be  withdrawn,  and  the 
"meeting"  of  which  he  had  written  to  his  friends  was 
certain  of  issue. 

But  the  best-laid  plans  are  frequently  undone.  The 
twenty-seventh  of  September,  while  Burr  sat  at  a 
banquet  in  Nashville  and  the  crowd  lustily  cheered  the 
toast  of  Jackson,  "Millions  for  defense;  not  one  cent 
for  tribute";  while  the  American  army  burned  with 
eagerness  to  try  their  metal  on  the  foe,  and  Jefferson 
listened  tremulously  for  the  announcement  of  the  rup 
ture,  Hep^ra^Yprcrging. hj^n^yn  discretion,  ordered  a 
retreat — and  the  Spanish  flag  had  waved  for  the  last 
time  over  Bayou  Pierre !  The  crisis,  was  past.  There 
was  no  longer  the  remotest  possibility  of  a  conflict — 
there  remained  not  a  foreigner  to  the  east  of  the  Sabine. 
Thus  at  the  very  moment  when  it  appeared  the  long- 

'Wilkinson  to  Cordero,  September  23,  1806;  MSS.  Bexar 
Archives. 


THE  CRISIS  ON  THE  FRONTIER    135 

anticipated  struggle  would  begin,  a  hollow  serenity  fell 
upon  the  scene.  Herrera  had  written  more  than  once 
that  he  meant  to  preserve  inviolate  that  region  to  the 
King  j1  nevertheless,  without  warning  and  without  war 
rant,  he  raised  his  camp.  No  doubt  he  realized  the 
hopelessness  of  holding  out  against  the  superior  force 
of  Wilkinson ;  that  the  question  of  war  or  peace  rested 
with  him,  and  he  acted  on  his  own  responsibility. 
Could  he  have  foreseen  the  inevitable  disasters  involved 
in  a  war  with  the  United  States?  The  enemies  of  the 
General  were  prone  to  say  that  Herrera  was  bribed,  but 
that  was  far  from  the  truth.  Wilkinson  played  no 
direct  part  in  forming  Herrera's  resolution,  and  could 
have  been  only  dismayed  at  the  sudden  withdrawal, 
which  had  determined  the  matter  of  peace  or  war,! 
which  had  rendered  vain  one  set  of  his  plans  and  plots,\  . 
and  which  had  within  four  and  twenty  hours  converted 
his  life-long  friends  into  enemies — even  traitors ! 

Wilkinson's  Memoirs,  ii.,  xciii. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

Wilkinson's  Duplicity 
* 

WHEN  Wilkinson  had  recovered  his  equa 
nimity  after  the  retreat  of  Herrera,  he  quickly 
devised  another  schedule  of  operations.     It 
was  no  less  a  one  than  to  abandon  Burr — if  indeed  he 
had  not  always  intended  doing  so — to  strike  a  com 
promise  with  the   Spaniards,  and  to  drive  his  own 
criminal  ends  with  an  impetuosity  and  finesse  which 
were  only  too  successful.     October  4,     1806,  he  ren 
dered  to  the  Government  an  account  of  things  on  the 
border : — 

"The  Spaniard,"  he  wrote  Dearborn,1  "raised  his  camp 
at  Bayou  Pierre  on  the  twenty-seventh  ultimo,  .  .  . 
and  on  the  thirtieth  crossed  the  Sabine  and  took  post 
on  the  right  bank,  where  Colonel  Gushing  left  him  the 
first  instant.  ...  I  shall  continue  my  preparations 
for  defense  and  offense,  and  tojwipe  off  the  species  of 
stigma  which  cavilers  may  attach  to  the  Spaniards'  re 
possession  of  the  ground  from  whence  we  had  driven 
them ;  to  give  confidence  to  our  friends,  to  confirm  the 
wavering  and  the  disaffected ;  and,  above  all,  to  assert 
unequivocally  the  pretensions  of  the  government,  I  have 
taken  post  within  the  limits  claimed  by  the  officers  of 
Spain,  and  in  a  few  days  shall  move  forward  to  the  east 
bank  of  the  Sabine,  where  I  shall  wait  the  answer  of  the 
Captain-General  Salcedo." 

Had  the  wavering  known  what  was  now  in  his 
mind  they  would  no  doubt  have  been  won  over,  while 

lAnnals  of  Congress  1807-08,  Ap.,  p.  570. 
136 


WILKINSON'S  DUPLICITY          137 

the  confidence  of  his  friends  would  indeed  have  been 
unbounded.  Unhappily  neither  his  friends,  his  ene 
mies,  nor  yet  the  wavering,  knew  the  inner  history  of 
this  campaign.  We  shall  see  at  once  that  he  did  not 
move  forward  on  schedule;  that  he  did  not  assert 
unequivocally  the  pretensions  of  the  Government  to  the 
land  in  dispute ;  and  that  he  did  not,  as  he  stated  in  the 
same  paper,  dismiss  the  militia.  The  day  he  started  the 
above  letter  to  Washington,  he  wrote  cordially  to  Cor- 
dero  in  reply  to  his  note  of  the  twenty-ninth  ult,  which 
had  been  received  at  the  hand  of  Gushing : 

'I  shall  despatch  my  troops  to  the  Sabine,'  he  said 
dispassionately,  'and  I  hope  you  will  interpret  the  motive 
only  as  signifying  the  pretensions  of  the  United  States 
to  the  east  bank  of  the  river,  and  not  as  an  act  of  hostility 
against  the  Spanish  troops.  The  honor  of  the  United 
States  demands  the  move,  and  it  is  justified  by  the  posi 
tion  assumed  by  Governor  Herrera  next  the  Sabine, 
twenty  leagues  from  the  post  of  Nacogdoches.' 

Nothing  is  here  said  of  asserting  the  authority  of 
the  United  States  unequivocally — it  is  only  pretensions. 
This  specific  message  was  clearly  intended  to  open  the 
way  to  an  understanding  with  the  inexorable  Governor, 
and  the  utter  ignoring  of  the  subject-matter  of  his  cor 
respondence  was  another  step  in  this  direction.  From 
this  time  forward  Wilkinson  exerted  himself  to  the 
utmost  to  make  friends  of  the  two  opposing  leaders,  but 
with  ill  success  in  the  case  of  Cordero,  whose  response 
was  as  emphatic  as  unconciliatory : 

"I  see  by  the  letter  of  your  excellency  of  the  fourth    • 
inst.,"  he  wrote,  *  "which  I  have  just  received,  that  against   I 

Military  Affairs,  i.,  205. 


138  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

my  hopes,  you  have  marched  your  troops  toward  the 
Sabine.  .  .  .  Your  excellency  is  well  acquainted 
with  the  sacred  duties  of  a  soldier :  I  must  in  consequence 
declare  to  your  excellency  that,  though  the  results  which 
your  excellency  has  undertaken  ought  not,  in  any  manner 
whatever,  to  be  considered  as  an  act  of  hostility  provoked 
by  my  government,  I  must  oppose  myself  to  it  in  the  dis 
charge  of  the  obligation  which  I  am  under,  to  oppose  my 
self  to  the  aggressions  of  the  United  States,  and  to  pre 
serve  entire,  as  far  as  lies  in  my  power,  the  dominions  of 
my  sovereign." 

Cordero's  declaration  that  he  meant  to  oppose  the 
march  of  the  Americans  was  a  bit  of  idle  talk,  for  he 
never  so  much  as  left  the  fort  at  Nacogdoches  in  the 
discharge  of  his  obligation  to  oppose  "the  aggressions 
of  the  United  States."  And  it  was  well  that  he  did 
not,  for  the  idea  of  employing  force  had  been  aban 
doned  by  those  in  authority.  Herrera  was  justified  in 
having  retreated  from  the  disputed  tract  by  Salcedo, 
in  an  order  dated  October  24th,  from  the  Hacienda  de 
los  Ornos;  likewise  Cordero.  The  Captain-General's 
words  to  the  latter  were  to  the  effect  that  under  no 
circumstances  should  an  attack  be  made  on  the  Ameri 
can  forces;  the  territory  in  dispute  should  not  be 
jeopardized,  though  it  were  many  times  occupied.1 

October  8th,  two  weeks  after  the  retreat  of  Herrera, 
while  Wilkinson  was  still  idle  in  camp,  though  profess 
ing  to  be  in  the  utmost  haste  to  follow  the  retreating 
Spaniards  to  the  Sabine,  Samuel  Swartwout,  after  a 
long  pursuit  of  the  General,  reached  Natchitoches  with 
Burr's  famous  letter  of  July  29th.2  It  was  in  the  even- 

'Salcedo  to  Cordero,  October  24,  1806;  MSS.  Bexar  Archives. 
'See  p.  69. 


WILKINSON'S  DUPLICITY          139 

ing,  and  Wilkinson  was  alone  wkh  Colonel  Cushing  of 
the  Second  Infantry,  when  Swartwout  appeared  with  a 
note  of  introduction  from  ex-Senator  Dayton. 

Cushing  subsequently  deposed  that  the  morning 
after  Swartwout's  coming  the  General  said  to  him  that 
he  had  some  serious  information  to  communicate.  --j 
After  asking  Cushing  whether  he  had  heard  of  an 
enterprise  being  under  way  in  the  West,  he  related  that 
"a  great  number  of  individuals  possessing  wealth, 
popularity,  and  talents  [were]  associated  for  purposes 
inimical  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States." 
Burr  was  at  their  head  and  Swartwout,  who  had 
brought  the  cipher  letter  containing  this  treasonable 
information,  was  his  emissary.  Burr  had  funds;  the 
navy  was  with  him;  and  Wilkinson  was  to  be  second 
in  authority,  distributing  honors  and  emoluments  to 
the  officers  under  his  command.  But  the  General 
avoided  saying  a  word  as  to  the  ulterior  objects  of  the 
expedition  forming  in  the  West :  the  matter  of  attack 
ing  Baton  Rouge,  and  of  advancing  into  a  land  where 
the  natives  were  ready  to  receive  them.  Already,  how 
ever,  the  General  had  devised  plans  for  the  crushing  of 
the  movement ;  these  he  confided  to  Cushing.  He  would 
march  at  once  to  the  Sabine  and  make  terms  with  the 
Spanish  commander,  and  then  take  what  measures/  he 
thought  the  safety  of  the  country  demanded-.1  This 
resolution  seems  to  have  been  reached  over  night;  but 
in  reality  the  arrival  of  Burr's  packet  was  only  the  occa 
sion  for  its  enunciation — the  outlines  of  his  course  had 
been  fixed,  the  details  were  to  be  determined  by  events. 

Wilkinson's  Memoirs,  ii.,  xcii. 


i4o  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

-*  A  single  night — the  larger  part  of  which,  according  to 
the  General's  own  evidence,  was  spent  in  deciphering 
Burr's  letter — is  hardly  time  to  mature  a  deeply  in 
volved  piece  of  human  action. 

Swartwout  remained  a  week  at  Natchitoches,  dur 
ing  which  time,  according  to  the  General,  he  opened  up 
to  him  the  whole  of  the  infamous  business  of  the  crew 
of  traitors.  Wilkinson  made  much  of  these  alleged  dis 
closures,  but  no  reliance  whatever,  as  we  shall  see,  can 
be  placed  in  his  story.  At  the  moment  of  Swartwout's 
departure  for  New  Orleans  Farrar's  dragoons  rode  into 
camp,  and  in  the  company  was  one  Walter  Burling.  He 
was  known  to  the  General,  and  the  very  day  he  reached 
the  camp  the  secret  of  the  conspiracy  was  opened  to 
him,  his  opinion  being  asked  as  to  measures  to  be  pur 
sued.  But  before  answer  could  be  made  he  was  told 
by  the  General  that  he  himself  had  come  to  a  decision  i1 
and  strange  to  say  it  was  the  same  as  that  given  Gush 
ing  the  morning  after  the  receipt  of  Burr's  letter.  Bur 
ling,  who  was  only  a  well-to-do  farmer  living  near 
Natchez,  was  at  once  taken  into  the  official  family  of 
the  commander-in-chief — made  an  aide-de-camp,  and 
thereafter  remained  his  "dear  and  well-beloved  friend." 
This  rapid  promotion  and  display  of  confidence  arouses 
the  suspicion  that  they  had  stood  on  common  ground  at 
some  former  period;  and  such  a  haunting  suspicion  is 
almost  confirmed  by  their  later  relations. 

Wilkinson,  after  the  receipt  of  Burr's  famous  letter, 
which  he  declared  to  be  treasonable,  spent  two  weeks  in 
Natchitoches  in  apparent  unconcern.  It  was  not  for 

xBurling's  Deposition,  Wilkinson's  Memoirs,  ii.,  Ap.  xcvii. 


WILKINSON'S  DUPLICITY          141 

want  of  troops  or  supplies  that  he  delayed  his  march  to 
the  Sabine ;  nor  was  his  silence  prompted  by  patriotism. 
Delay  and  silence  on  his  part  were  alike  necessary  to 
developments  in  the  West,  lie  knew  that  if  he  promptly 
reported  his  information  to  the  President,  or  to  the 
governors  of  the  Western  States,  the  flotillas  preparing 
on  the  Ohio  and  Cumberland  would  be  seized  on  the 
stocks.  That,  in  truth,  was  not  the  exit  the  General 
wished  for ;  and  never  during  the  course  of  the  excite- *•> 
ment  did  he  send  a  word  of  warning  to  the  authorities 
in  the  Ohio  country. 

The  time  came  when  Wilkinson  was  ready  to  play 
another  card — a  trump.  He  knew  that  the  Government 
had  heard  through  the  journals  the  alarming  stories 
from  the  West  (he  had  kept  close  track  of  the  news 
papers,  as  we  know  from  his  correspondence)  and  he 
judged,  and  rightly,  that  the  Administration  would  be 
uneasy,  ready  for  his  denunciations.  So,  October  2Oth 
he  wrote  to  the  President" that,  frbm  information  based" 
on  "broad  and  explicit  grounds,"  he  had  discovered 
that  a  powerful  association,  extending  from  New  York 
through  the  Western  States,  had  been  formed  for 
the  purpose  of  leading  an  expedition  against  Vera 
Cruz  i1— 

"Agents  from  Mexico,  who  were  in  Philadelphia  in 
the  beginning  of  August,  are  engaged  in  this  enterprise ; 
these  persons  have  given  assurances,  that  the  landing  of 
the  proposed  expedition  will  be  seconded  by  so  general 
an  insurrection,  as  to  insure  the  subversion  of  the  present 
government,  and  silence  all  opposition  in  three  or  four 
weeks.  .  .  .  Active  influential  characters  have  been 

Wilkinson's  Memoirs,  ii.,  Ap.  xcv. 


142  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

engaged  in  these  transactions  for  six  or  eight  months 
past ;  and  their  preparations  are  reported  to  be  in  such  a 
state  of  maturity  that  it  is  expected  the  van  will  reach 
New  Orleans  in  December,  where  the  necessary  organisa 
tions  and  equipments  are  to  be  completed  with  prompti 
tude,  and  it  is  proposed  that  the  expedition  should  sail 
for  Vera  Cruz  about  the  first  of  February." 

Had  Wilkinson  stopped  there  he  would  have  come 
near  the  truth;  but  after  telling  Cushing  and  others 
that  Burr  was  at  the  head  of  this  association,  at  whose 
bottom  was  treason,  he  had  the  audacity  to  say  to  the 
President  that  it  was  "unknown  under  what  authority" 
the  enterprise  had  been  projected;  and  that  the  "inten 
tion  of  its  leaders,  in  relation  to  the  Territory  of 
Orleans,"  was  a  matter  of  doubt.  This  letter  was  pur 
posely  ambiguous  and  non-committal — the  way  had  to 
be  prepared.  The  day  following,  in  a  confidential  dis 
patch  to  Jefferson,  he  said : 

"Although  my  information  appears  too  direct  and  cir 
cumstantial  to  be  fictitious,  yet  the  magnitude  of  the 
enterprise,  the  desperation  of  the  plan,  and  the  stupen 
dous  consequences  with  which  it  seems  pregnant,  stagger 
my  belief  and  excite  doubts  of  the  reality,  against  the  con 
viction  of  my  senses ;  and  it  is  for  this  reason  I  shall  for 
bear  to  commit  names,  because  it  is  my  desire  to  avert  a 
great  public  calamity,  and  not  to  mar  a  salutary  design, 
or  to  injure  anyone  undeservedly."1 

Had  Jefferson  exercised  even  ordinary  discernment 
he  must  instantly  have  seen  that  Wilkinson  was  un 
trustworthy,  for  in  one  part  of  his  letter  he  declared  the 
other  false : 

"I  have  never  in  my  whole  life  found  myself  in  such 
circumstances  of  perplexity  and  embarrassment  as  at 

Wilkinson  to  Jefferson,  October  21,  1806;  Letters  in  Relation. 


WILKINSON'S  DUPLICITY          143 

present;  for  I  am  not  only  uninformed  of  the  prime 
mover  and  ultimate  objects  of  this  daring  enterprise,  but 
am  ignorant  of  the  foundations  on  which  it  rests,  of  the 
means  by  which  it  is  to  be  supported,  and  whether  any 
immediate  or  collateral  protection,  internal  or  external, 
is  expected." 

The  names  he  forbore  in  the  first  paragraph  to 
commit,  by  the  next  had  never  been  part  of  his  informa 
tion.  Extraordinary !  But  more  extraordinary  was  the 
masterly  way  in  which  he  introduced  the  subject  of  the 
treasonable  side  of  the  conspiracy: 

"Should  this  association  be  formed  in  opposition  to 
the  laws  and  in  defiance  of  the  Government,  then  I  have 
no  doubt  the  revolt  of  this  territory  will  be  made  an 
auxiliary  step  to  the  main  design  of  attacking  Mexico,  to 
give  it  a  new. master  in  the  place  of  promised  liberty. 
Should  the  fact  be  ascertained  to  me,  I  believe  I  should 
hazard  my  discretion,  make  the  best  compromise  with 
Salcedo  in  my  power,  and  throw  myself  with  my  little 
band  into  New  Orleans  to  be  ready  to  defend  the  capital 
against  usurpation  and  violence." 

After  this  sentence — remarkable  not  only  for  its 
cunning  dissimulation,  but  also  for  its  characterization 
of  the  expedition  and  the  fling  at  Burr — he  stated  his 
programme,  which  was  indeed  a  frank  divulgence  of 
what  was  in  his  mind,  a  foreword  of  the  history  of  his 
violent  usurpation  of  power  in  New  Orleans.  There 
was,  moreover,  to  this  letter  a  foot-note.  The  defense 
in  the  trial  at  Richmond  took  Wilkinson  to  task  over  it ; 
but  he  attempted  to  extricate  himself  by  swearing  that  . 
the  "N.  B."  in  question  was  a  subsequent  addition. 
The  original  MS.,  however,  bluntly  contradicts  him: 

"Should  Spain  be  disposed  to  war  seriously  with  us, 
might  not  some  plan  be  adopted  to  correct  the  delirium 


i44  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

of  the  associates  and  by  a  suitable  appeal  to  their  patriot 
ism  to  engage  them  in  the  service  of  their  country?  I 
merely  offer  the  suggestion  as  a  possible  expedient  to  pre 
vent  the  horrors  of  a  civil  contest,  and  I  do  believe  that 
with  competent  authority  I  could  accomplish  the  object." 

Had  Wilkinson  left  no  other  trace  of  his  desperate 
effort  to  make  out  a  case  of  treason  against  the  West 
erners — which  effort  was  singularly  abetted  by  circum 
stances  and  the  cumulative  energy  of  a  score  of  years 
of  history  of  Spanish  intrigue  and  discontent  in  the 
West,  and  little  understood — had  Wilkinson  left  no 
other  trace  of  his  vicious  manoeuvres,  of  his  brazen 
double-dealings,  this  note  would  irretrievably  condemn 
him.  He  represented  to  the  President  that  Burr's 

4  followers  were  desperate  "bandits" ;  but  to  make  him 
self  secure  in  any  case,  he  indicated  that  they  might  be 
diverted  from  their  purposes  of  treason  and  led  against 
the  Spaniards.  Truly  a  wonderful  spectacle,  a  body 
of  traitors  metamorphosed  into  patriots!1 

While  thus  engaged  in  launching  his  schemes,  scat 
tering  alarms  in  every  direction,  he  did  not  fail  to 
provide  for  his  own  safety.  He  knew  that  already 
the  Lexington  Gazette  and  the  Western  World  had 
assailed  his  character  with  incontrovertible  evidences 

i  of  guilt — "intriguer  and  pensioner  of  Spain,  now  as 
sociated  with  Aaron  Burr  in  reviving  the  old  Spanish 
Conspiracy" — while,  in  Congress  and  out,  grave  suspi 
cions  were  aroused  against  him.  The  storm  was 
gathering,  but  with  the  President  to  sustain  him  it 
might  rage  unheeded.  Therefore,  Jefferson's  sympa- 

*It  is  quite  remarkable  that  this  foot-note  should  have  been 
ignored  by  historians.  It  vitiates  whatever  value  the  letter  might 
otherwise  have  had. 


WILKINSON'S  DUPLICITY          145 

thies  were  to  be  enlisted — he  was  to  be  drawn  into  his 
designs  and  so  compromised    that    retreat    would    be     ' 
impossible. 

In  a  second  letter  of  October  2ist  he  confidentially 
related  to  the  Chief  Executive  that  a  paper  (the  West 
ern  World),  recently  established  in  Kentucky  for  the 
purpose  of  taking  part  in  the  next  Presidential  election 
(this  would  appeal  to  Jefferson),  had  attacked  him 
(Wilkinson),  and  that  he  had  been  "bespattered  with 
obloquy  and  slandered  with  a  degree  of  virulence  and 
indecency  surpassing  all  example." 

"I  have  at  times  been  fearful,"  he  complained, 1  "your 
confidence  might  be  shaken  by  the  boldness  of  the  vile 
calumnies  leveled  at  me ;  but  the  reflection  that  I  have 
not  only  enjoyed  but  merited  the  confidence  of  General 
Washington  and  his  administration,  anterior  to  the  intro 
duction  of  Pinckney,  and  that  the  same  illustrious  charac 
ter  died  my  friend ;  and  that  the  honest  but  wrong-headed 
President  Adams  approved  my  conduct  in  opposition  to 
his  Ministers,  combined  with  the  consciousness  that  the 
wealth  and  power  of  the  wide  world  could  not  for  a 
moment  divert  my  course  from  the  path  of  honor,  dissi 
pated  my  apprehensions  and  determined  me  not  to  de 
scend  to  the  task  of  refuting  by  ...  testimony  and 
authentic  documents,  every  imputation  alleged  against 
me,  from  the  most  frivolous  to  the  most  sane ;  I  therefore 
contented  myself  by  directing  my  attorney  to  bring  an 
action  of  slander  against  the  printers,  to  test  their  author 
ities  in  a  court  of  justice/' 

If  suit  was  ever  brought  in  Wilkinson's  name 
against  Street  &  Wood,  publishers  of  the  Western 
World,  no  record  of  it  has  appeared.  The  mass  of 
"testimony  and  authentic  documents,"  we  do  not  lack, 

"Wilkinson  to  Jefferson,  October  21,  1806;  Letters  in  Relation. 


i46   THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

as  he  did  descend  to  the  task  of  refuting  the  charges — 
and  we  have  his  Memoirs,  which  will  ever  remain  a 
ponderous  proof  of  his  infamy.  To  Jefferson  the 
authentic  documents  were  unnecessary ;  but  Wilkinson, 
trembling  lest  the  thread  of  his  life  should  be  "unsea 
sonably  cut,"  vowed  to  the  President  that  they  were 
in  existence  and  might  be  available  "to  silence  the  mis 
representations  of  my  enemies  and  to  justify  your 
predilection" : 

"Pardon,  I  beseech  you,  the  honest  pride  which  impels 
me  to  bare  my  bosom  to  you. —  My  ultimate  views  are 
limited  to  the  acquisition  of  an  honorable  fame. —  I  have 
ever  contemned  the  sordid  interests  of  the  world,  and 
estimate  property  by  its  immediate  utility  only  —  and  it  is 
the  highest  ambition  of  my  soul  on  a  proper  occasion,  to 
spend  my  last  breath  in  the  cause  of  my  country. —  A 
frail  character,  but  a  just  one.  To  you  I  owe  more  than 
I  will  express,  lest  I  should  be  suspected  of  adulation, 
which  I  detest.  Suffice  it  [that?]  I  shall  serve  the  nation 
with  zeal  and  fidelity,  and  that  your  trust  can  never  be 
disgraced." 

Within  two  weeks  his  "ultimate  views"  were  lim 
ited  to  the  acquisition  of  an  "honorable"  fortune,  and 
Jefferson's  trust  was  already  disgraced.  Apart  from 
the  unmasking  of  his  character,  the  real  importance  of 
the  foregoing  letter  hangs  on  the  mention  of  the  West 
ern  World.  It  proves  that  the  attack  on  Aaron  Burr 
and  his  project  were  not  unknown  to  the  man  who  had 
"not  only  enjoyed  but  merited  the  confidence  of  Gen 
eral  Washington,"  and  who  was  conscious  that  'the 
wealth  of  the  world  could  not  for  a  moment  divert  his 
course  from  the  path  of  honor/  Indeed,  early  in  the 


WILKINSON'S  DUPLICITY          147 

year  the  General  had  been  successfully  pricked  by 
communications  appearing  in  the  Lexington  Gazette. 
He  was  there  charged  with  thoughts  and  deeds  which 
caused  him  so  much  uneasiness  that  he  essayed  a 
sweeping  denunciation  of  the  whole  catalogue : — 

"Several  vile,  malignant,  and  groundless  fabrications," 
he  wrote  to  Editor  Daniel  Bradford  of  the  Lexington  Ga 
zette,  "having  lately  issued  from  your  press  with  design 
to  stab  my  reputation,  I  should  feel  myself  unworthy  the 
confidence  with  which  I  am  honored,  did  I  suffer  them, 
however  contemptible,  to  pass  unnoticed.  .  .  .  This 
may  be  considered  the  last  desperate  resort  of  an  expiring 
faction.  ...  I  have  barely  time  before  the  departure 
of  the  mail  to  assure  [you]  that  the  innuendoes  and  asser 
tions  of  this  letter  writer  are  substantially  false  and 
groundless."  * 

Wilkinson  saw  that  Burr  was  joined  with  him  in 
an  enterprise  which  was  declared  to  embrace  the  old 
idea  of  the  Spanish  Conspiracy  with  the  new  one  of  the 
invasion  of  Mexico;  that  the  people  were  wrought  up 
to  a  high  pitch  of  excitement,  and,  keen-witted  as  he 
was,  he  realized  that  the  moment  for  action  had  arrived 
— the  moment  when  he  should  redeem  his  fame  and 
fortune!  He  knew  from  his  own  earlier  experiences 
that  no  power  could  commit  the  West  to  the  cause  of 
treason,  even  though  at  the  moment  that  was  the  talk 
of  every  countryside.  So  outspoken  were  the  Western 
ers  in  their  professions  of  loyalty,  he  hesitated  long 
before  making  the  charge  of  disaffection,  which  he 
feared  could  never  be  supported.  His  first  representa 
tions  charged  simply  misdemeanor,  open  and  avowed, 

lLexington  Gazette,  May  10,  1806. 


148   THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

or  the  crime  of  plotting  the  unlawful  invasion  of  a 
neighboring  sovereign's  domains.  Notwithstanding, 
he  was  assiduously  agitating  the  former  view,  and  did 
more  than  all  other  forces  to  fasten  the  stigma  of 
treason  on  the  followers  of  Aaron  Burr.  Even  while 
making  his  reports  to  the  Government,  and  outlining 
his  programme  of  peace  with  the  Spaniards,  he  cajoled 
his  brother  officers  with  the  likelihood  of  a  war,  never 
mentioning  the  crisis  rising  along  the  Ohio.  Two  days 
after  his  plaintive  letter  to  the  President,  and  the  day 
he  set  out  on  his  march  to  the  Sabine,  he  wrote  to 
Colonel  Freeman,  commander  in  New  Orleans  i1 — 

"Under  my  present  views  and  impressions,  I  have  not 
the  least  doubt,  we  shall  soon  be  engaged  in  hostilities, 
and  therefore,  every  preparation  for  defence  should  be 
made,  which  our  humble  means  may  enable.  By  buy 
ing  up  all  the  paper  to  be  had  in  this  country,  I  have  made 
up  about  thirty-five  rounds  of  musket  cartridges  for  six 
hundred  men — a  handsome  stock  for  a  campaign,  and 
when  it  may  become  immediately  necessary,  to  quadruple 
our  force." 

When  Wilkinson  wrote  this  he  knew  there  was  no 
probability  of  an  engagement  taking  place;  he  set  out 
on  his  march  with  but  one  object  in  view — to  make 
peace  with  the  Spaniards.  On  the  other  hand,  he 
brought  his  letter  to  a  close  in  a  paragraph  calculated 
to  try  the  nerves  of  any  man : 

"Your  place,"  referring  to  the  rehabilitation  of  the 
old  forts  about  New  Orleans,  "is  to  be  completed  about 
the  twentieth  of  December,  and  in  those  works  have  all 
your  artillery,  arms,  and  military  stores  and  utensils 

Wilkinson's  Memoirs,  ii.,  Ap.  ci. 


WILKINSON'S  DUPLICITY          149 

secured.  Should  this  operation  excite  enquiry,  you  are  to 
say  the  plan  of  fortification  has  been  varied,  and  that  the 
Secretary  of  War  has  ordered  the  repairs  of  the  old  work. 
I  cannot  explain  to  you,  at  this  time,  the  causes  which 
prescribe  this  measure ;  but  they  are  of  a  nature  too  impe 
rious  to  be  resisted,  and  too  highly  confidential  to  be 
whispered,  or  even  suspected.  Your  silence,  therefore, 
must  be  profound;  and  while  you  pursue  the  operations 
most  industriously,  you  must  show  no  anxiety,  nor  offer 
allusion  (even  conjectural)  to  any  specific  object," 

A  month  after  Herrera  had  raised  his  camp,  almost 
a  month  after  Wilkinson  had  written  that  he  would  be 
ready  to  advance,  he  actually  set  out  with  flags  flying 
and  scouts  and  skirmishers  in  order,  fearing,  as  he 
said,  an  attack.  It  was  an  idle  march,  selfishly  begun 
and  disgracefully  ended.  The  graphic  descriptions 
some  writers  have  left  us  of  how  Wilkinson  manoeuvred 
the  Spaniards  out  of  the  land,  closed  an  advantageous 
treaty  with  them,  and  rushed  in  the  breach  to  save  the 
Nation  from  an  army  of  traitors,  once  more  forcibly 
illustrates  that  history  can  be  woven  of  fiction,  and 
that  truth  itself  may  be  ofttimes  buried  under  the  black 
stain  of  the  false! 

Without  meeting  with  so  much  as  a  Spanish  patrol, 
the  American  army  halted,  October  2Qth,  on  the  east 
bank  of  the  Sabine.  Wilkinson  had  the  day  before  sent 
a  dispatch  to  Cordero  by  his  aide-de-camp,  Walter  Bur 
ling,  which  was  to  the  effect  that,  without  yielding  a 
pretension  or  ceding  a  right,  the  two  powers  should 
retire  to  Nacogdoches  and  Natchitoches  respectively. 
Another  condition  was  that  the  Spaniards  should  not 
cross  the  Sabine,  nor  the  Americans  the  Arroyo  Hondo. 
A  copy  of  these  proposals,  Burling  tells  us,  was  left 


150   THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

with  Herrera,  who  commanded  on  the  Sabine.  At 
noon,  November  ist,  the  aide  delivered  his  note  to  Cor- 
dero;  the  third,  Burling  started  back  with  Cordero's 
answer.  The  old  cavalier,  from  the  fort  of  Nacog- 
doches  which  the  American  filibusters  were  to  occupy 
a  few  years  later,  replied,  as  he  had  done  on  another 
occasion,  that  he  could  do  nothing;  that  Salcedo  held 
the  final  decision;  and  that  the  proposition  had  been 
sent  to  him  with  all  haste.  The  Captain-General,  how 
ever,  was  not  destined  in  the  first  instance  to  pass 
upon  it — there  was  no  time  to  wait  for  his  judgment. 

When  Burling  on  his  return  reached  the  Spanish 
camp  on  the  Sabine,  Herrera  announced  his  acceptance 
of  the  articles.  The  next  day,  November  5th,  Inspector 
Viana  appeared  in  the  American  camp,  and  the  pact 
known  as  the  Neutral  Ground  Treaty  was  duly  con 
cluded.1  For  Wilkinson  thi£  was  a  great  triumph — in 
the  eyes  of  the  world  the  greatest  he  ever  won.  It  was, 
in  fact,  but  a  phase  in  an  unsurpassed  scheme  of  impos 
ture  and  rascality.  Such  a  reconciliation  was  absolutely 
essential  to  the  success  of  his  own  designs. 

The  day  after  the  celebration  of  the  pact  of  peace 
with  Herrera,  Wilkinson  sent  the  following  dispatch  to 
Cordero : 

"The  conciliatory  aspect  of  your  letter  which  I  had 
the  honor  to  receive  yesterday  by  the  hand  of  my  aide- 
de-camp,  Mr.  Burling,  and  the  pacific  tenor  of  your  cor 
respondence,  have  removed  from  my  mind  the  idea  of 
premeditated  hostilities  on  the  part  of  Spain  against  the 
United  States.  After  I  have  complied  with  my  orders 
in  proclaiming  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States  here, 

Wilkinson's  Memoirs,  ii.,  Ap.  xcvii. 


WILKINSON'S  DUPLICITY          151 

it  is  my  desire  that  the  act  shall  in  no  wise  lessen  the 
amicable  spirit  existing  between  my  government  and  the 
government  you  have  the  honor  to  serve.  I  shall  in  a 
day  or  two  move  my  troops  from  this  point  to  Natchito- 
ches,  and  I  trust  that  the  orders  to  the  troops  under  your 
command  will  not  be  varied,  and  will  be  strictly  observed 
until  the  conclusion  of  the  negotiations  now  pending." 

It  was  a  clever  ruse  of  Wilkinson  to  pretend  that  he 
had  "proclaimed  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States" 
to  the  Sabine ;  only  the  -initiated  knew  that  over  the 
region  from  the  Arroyo  Hondo  to  the  Sabine  neutrality 
had  been  declared ;  and  it  was  singularly  presumptuous 
in  Wilkinson  to  suppose  that  Cordero  could  or  would 
conform  to  the  stipulations  of  a  treaty  to  which  he,  as 
'superior  officer,  had  not  assented,  and  which  from  its 
very  irregularity  could  have  no  binding  force.  The 
General,  however,  was  satisfied  with  the  situation, 
which  promised  at  any  time  to  reopen  the  controversy, 
and  turned  with  eagerness  to  the  more  serious  part  of 
his  programme — the  first  act  of  which  was  to  deceive 
his  army.  The  morning  of  the  fifth  of  November  the 
following  general  order  was  read  by  Burling  to  the 
army  which  was  mustered  for  review : 

"His  Excellency,  Governor  Herrera,  the  military  chief, 
immediately  opposed  to  this  corps,  having  agreed  to  with 
draw  his  troops  to  Nacogdoches  and  to  prohibit  their 
recrossing  the  vSabine  River  pending  the  negotiations 
between  the  United  States  and  Spain,  the  objects  of  this 
expedition  are  accomplished  and  the  camp  will,  of  course, 
be  raised  to-morrow  or  the  next  day,  and  Colonel  Cush- 
ing  will  lead  back  the  troops  to  Natchitoches." 

When  the  reading  was  finished  the  General  pro 
ceeded  to  praise  the  army  in  grandiloquent  terms  for 


152    THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

having  served  the  country  so  bravely  and  so  patri 
otically,  flattering  in  turn  each  individual  company. 
And  thus  was  announced  the  Neutral  Ground  Treaty.1 

It  was  highly  politic  in  Wilkinson  to  conceal  the 
real  terms  of  the  treaty.  The  Spaniards  were  not  to 
cross  the  Sabine,  but  he  said  not  a  word  about  the 
Arroyo  Hondo  marking  the  boundary  for  the  Ameri 
cans.  And  it  was  well  that  the  volunteers,  who  had 
been  chafing  under  enforced  idleness  and  who  longed 
for  the  din  of  battle,  were  doubly  deceived ;  as  it  was, 
there  was  great  discontent  at  the  retreat,  although  the 
first  tremors  of  the  Aaron  Burr  alarm  had  already  pene 
trated  the  camp  on  the  frontier.  As  late  as  the  trial  at 
Richmond  the  General  covered  up  his  treachery  by  re 
fusing  to  submit  the  text  of  the  "Convention,"  throwing 
the  matter  back  on  the  Executive  with  the  words,  "I 
do  not  think  myself  at  liberty  to  divulge  its  contents;" 
— answering,  "I  cannot  tell"  to  the  query,  "Has  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  United  States  ever  been  exercised  as 
far  as  the  Sabine  ?"2  He  knew  it  had  not ;  so  did  Jeffer 
son  ;  both  were  indisposed  to  answer  the  question.  The 
fact  was  that  the  spoils  had  been  surrendered,  and  both 
the  President  and  his  agent  were  loath  to  give  out  the 
ill  news.  The  impression  was  abroad  that  the  Span 
iards  had  acknowledged  the  rights  of  the  Union  to  the 
Sabine — the  ambitions  of  the  Republic  were  therefore 
prospering — and  it  would  have  been  a  shock,  dangerous 
at  the  moment,  to  have  dispelled  the  illusion.  It  was 

*It  was  of  course  in  no  legal  sense  a  treaty ;  it  was  merely  an 
agreement  between  unaccredited  agents  of  the  two  governments. 
It  was,  however,  in  a  measure,  observed  until  superseded  by  the 
Treaty  of  Washington  (1819). 

'Annals  of  Congress,  1807-08,  pp.  226,  227. 


WILKINSON'S  DUPLICITY          153 

only  by  degrees,  slow  degrees,  that  the  curtain  was 
lifted. 

While  Wilkinson  was  using  a  free  hand  in  dispos 
ing  of  affairs  on  the  Sabine,  the  country  was  eager  for 
the  news  of  war.  The  Cabinet — four  heads  of  Depart 
ment  being  present — after  discussing  at  length  the 
scheme  of  Burr,1  carefully  canvassed  the  situation  in 
Louisiana. 

"October  22.  Spain  has  moved  to  Bayou  Pierre  a 
body  of  1,000  or  1,200  men,  mostly  militia;  but  300  regu 
lars  are  to  join.  Our  regular  force  in  Mississippi  and 
Orleans  Territories  numbers  631 — exclusive  of  210  at 
New  Orleans ; — augmented  by  240  recruits,  the  strength 
is  i, 08 1.  At  Tombigbee  is  a  garrison  of  130.  But  even 
with  this  strength  Wilkinson  asks  for  500  mounted  men 
to  secure  his  operations.  Governor  Meade  offers  250  vol 
unteers  for  service  west  of  the  Mississippi — 500  on  the 
east.  Claiborne  counts  on  500  volunteers  from  the  west 
ern  counties  of  Orleans.  It  is  agreed  unanimously  to 
require  500  militia  mounted  on  their  own  horses  from 
those  territories  and  for  a  period  of  six  months,  and  to 
be  ready  when  called  for  by  commanders  of  regiments. 
The  marines  at  New  Orleans  shall  do  garrison  duty  so  as 
to  relieve  the  troops  from  the  city  who  may  be  sent  up  to 
Natchitoches. 

"October  24.  Agreed  unanimously  that  Preble  and  De- 
catur  are  to  go  at  once  to  New  Orleans  to  take  comlnand 
of  the  sea  forces  and  that  this  shall  be  reinforced  after 
consultation  with  Smith  and  Gallatin,  if  money  warrants. 
Preble  shall  have  discretionary  powers  on  consultation 
with  Governor  Claiborne."1 

Strong  measures,  however,  were  not  long  advo 
cated.  Reports  of  the  conspiracy,  threats  of  war  with 
England,  and  news  from  Europe  caused  the  Govern- 

*See  p.  93. 

'Cabinet  Memoranda,  Jefferson  MSS. 


154  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

ment  to  seek  a  peaceful  way  out  of  the  Spanish  em- 
broglio.  November  8th,  three  days  after  Wilkinson's 
propositions  had  been  accepted  by  Herrera,  the  follow 
ing  order  to  the  General  emanated  from  the  Cabinet  :* — 

'The  great  probability  of  an  amicable  and  early  settle 
ment  of  our  differences  with  Spain  at  Paris  has  rendered 
the  Executive  extremely  desirous  of  avoiding  hostilities. 
He  has  therefore  determined  to  assume  the  Sabine  as  tne 
temporary  line;  and  that  the  Spaniards  shall  not  hold 
any  fort  save  Bayou  Pierre  beyond  the  Sabine/ 

But  hostilities  were  thought  to  have  begun  already. 
In  that  case  Wilkinson  was  to  propose  to  the  Span 
iards  : 

'i.  That  hostilities  shall  be  suspended  —  that  the 
Sabine  shall  be  accepted  as  the  temporary  boundary— 
the  Americans  not  passing  to  the  west,  the  Spaniards  to 
the  east. 

'2.  Intercourse  shall  be  restored  between  the  citi 
zens  dwelling  on  either  side.  Or,  as  an  alternative,  that 
intercourse  shall  not  be  resumed. 

'3.  Neither  party  shall  establish  military  posts,  but 
may  strengthen  those  held. 

'4.  Neither  party  shall  incite  the  Indians  to  take  up 
arms. 

'5.  Citizens  or  subjects,  prisoners  of  either,  shall  be 
released. 

'6.  The  supreme  authority  of  either  nation  may  re 
voke  the  treaty,  but  no  action  shall  be  taken  without  a 
month's  notice. 

'Notes. — If  you  cannot  agree  on  the  Sabine,  make 
some  other  boundary.  It  is  imperatively  ordered  that  if 
hostilities  have  not  begun,  Wilkinson  must  remain  on  the 
defensive;  and  in  no  event  cross  the  Sabine  River.  If 
hostilities  have  begun,  and  any  Spanish  posts  east  of  the 
Mississippi  have  been  taken,  they  will  be  surrendered  in 
case  of  agreement  to  suspend  hostilities/ 

'Cabinet  Memoranda,  November  8,  1806;  Jefferson  MSS. 


WILKINSON'S    DUPLICITY          155 

The  anxiety  of  those  in  power  was  manifest.  Once 
they  had  hesitated  to  move,  but  the  time  was  now  come 
when  war  was  tacitly  accepted,  if  the  foreigners  chose 
to  insist  on  what  they  deemed  their  rights — territorial 
rights  which  were  in  conflict  with  the  limits  of  Louisi 
ana  as  set  by  the  Americans.  However,  another  turn 
of  the  wheel  had  changed  the  combinations,  and  Jef 
ferson  was  seized  with  his  chronic  malady — fear  of 
war  and  of  European  entanglements.  Once  more,  with 
the  same  empty  result,  he  pinned  his  faith  on  Napoleon, 
who,  he  believed,  meant  to  settle  the  dispute  creditably. 
For  a  moment,  too,  his  easy  confidence  in  the  loyalty 
of  the  Westerners  wavered  on  the  receipt  of  the  news 
of  the  formidable  preparations  of  Aaron  Burr.  Not 
even  the  hope  of  the  conquest  of  the  Floridas,  in  his 
mind,  warranted  the  continuance  of  the  war  (war  was 
supposed  to  have  begun)  ;  and  these  precious  domin 
ions,  much  as  Jefferson  yearned  for  them,  must  be  re 
turned  to  the  enemy  in  case  they  had  been  taken.  Such 
a  state  of  affairs  forcibly  recalls  the  time  when,  through 
our  national  weakness,  we  were  brought  humbly  to  the 
feet  of  the  powers  of  the  Old  World. 

But  Jefferson,  as  well  as  Wilkinson,  was  misled  in 
believing  that  the  Spaniards  had  crossed  the  Sabine 
for  the  purpose  of  fighting.  The  President  was  doubly 
misled,  because  he  calculated  on  a  speedy  and  complete 
fulfillment  of  the  orders  which  had  been  issued  concern 
ing  the  expulsion  of  the  enemy.  Nevertheless,  Wilkin 
son's  procrastination  was  unparalleled,  and  now  that 
but  one  course  was  open  he  entered  it  naturally. 
The  idea  of  a  neutral  ground  was  not  original  with 


i56   THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

him,  for  the  Government  had  discussed  it ;  but  that  he 
should  have  anticipated  the  wish  of  Jefferson  was  a 
strong  point  in  his  favor. 

Those  who  wielded  the  delegated  Bourbon  authority 
in  New  Spain  at  once  appreciated  the  advantages  which 
had  accrued  to  them  through  the  establishment  of  the 
status  quo.  The  Captain-General  of  the  Internal  Prov 
inces  left  Chihuahua  for  the  frontier  as  the  danger 
seemed  to  increase.  The  news  of  the  agreement  reached 
him  at  San  Antonio  de  Bexar,  whereupon  he  wrote,  De 
cember  3d,  to  Viceroy  Iturrigaray  that  "this  treaty 
insures  the  integrity  of  the  Spanish  dominions  along 
the  whole  of  the  great  extension  of  frontier."  Much 
correspondence  passed  between  the  Viceroy  and  the 
home  Government  concerning  not  only  the  establish 
ment  of  the  status  quo,  but  also  the  dangers  which 
might  arise  from  the  Anglo-American  peril.2  The 
treaty  itself  was  accepted  as  a  real  victory ;  and  indeed 
such  it  was.  Without  warrant  of  Congress,  without 
the  consent  or  advice  of  the  Executive,  Wilkinson  com 
promised  the  claim  of  the  United  States  to  what  was 
known  as  the  Neutral  Ground ;  and  without  the  shadow 
of  authority  rendered  ridiculous  our  pretensions  to  the 
Rio  Grande  as  the  western  limit  of  Louisiana!  The 
mere  recognition  of  a  neutral  ground  presupposed  two 
adjacent  areas  whose  titles  are  not  in  doubt.  When 

the  matter  was  finally  settled  in  1819,"  instead  of  being 
'  "-^ 

^alcedo  to  Iturrigaray,  December  3,  1806;  MSS.  Bexar 
Archives. 

•Real  Cedulas,  vol.  198;  MSS.  Mexican  Archives. 

"Treaty  of  Amity,  Settlement,  and  Limits  between  the  United 
States  of  America  and  His  Catholic  Majesty;  Foreign  Relations, 
vol.  iv. 


WILKINSON'S   DUPLICITY          157 

able  to  offer  Texas  for  Florida — West  Florida  had 
come  to  us  ( 1810)  by  revolution,  and  had  been  annexed 
to  Louisiana,  though  we  chose  to  respect  the  feelings  of 
Spain  by  pretending  to  buy  it — we  were  obliged  to  lay 
the  honest  debts  of  our  citizens  in  the  scales.  Not 
meaning  in  any  sense  to  justify  the  contention  that  we 
were  by  right  entitled  to  the  Rio  Grande  as  our  bound- 
dary  on  the  west,  it  is  necessary  to  view  the  matter  in 
the  light  of  the  time.  We  claimed  the  province  of 
Texas,  or  at  least  a  part  of  it;  had  carried  on  heated 
diplomatic  negotiations  concerning  it,  and  thus  to  yield 
it1  without  a  blow  was  inexplicable  to  all  save  the  Gen 
eral  who  knew  the  price  of  peace. 

With  quiet  restored  on  the  Sabine  Wilkinson  hur 
ried  to  Natchitoches,  which  he  reached  the  seventh  of 
November.  The  same  day  he  sent  to  Colonel  Cushing, 
who  was  leading  the  army  to  New  Orleans,  and  to 
Colonel  Freeman,  documents  of  varying  degrees  of 
intelligibility. 

"By  letters  found  here,"  he  revealed  to  Cushing,1  "I 
perceive  the  plot  thickens;  yet  all  but  those  concerned, 
sleep  profoundly.  My  God!  what  a  situation  has  our 
country  reached.  Let  us  save  it  if  we  can.  You  must 
instruct  Strong  by  my  authority,  and  therefore  leaving 

*For  one  to  realize  how  lightly  this  matter  has  been  passed 
over  by  historians  a  few  quotations  only  are  necessary.  Henry 
Adams  (iii.,  314)  says:  "He  [Wilkinson]  sent  his  force  for 
ward  to  the  Sabine,  and  passed  ten  days  in  making  an  arrange 
ment  with  the  Spanish  officers  for  maintaining  the  relative 
positions  of  the  outposts."  McMaster  barely  mentions  the  treaty. 
Schouler  avoids  the  subject  altogether.  Hildreth,  like  many 
others,  makes  the  palpable  error  of  stating  that  the  Sabine  was 
made  the  temporary  line  of  demarkation.  Jefferson,  in  his  mes 
sage  to  Congress,  December  3d,  falls  into  the  same  blunder, 
through  Wilkinson's  false  reports. 

''Wilkinson's  Memoirs,  ii.,  Ap.  xcix. 


158   THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

the  minutiae  to  you,  I  will  barely  suggest  the  propriety 
of  calling  his  incessant  attention  to  the  repair  and  preser 
vation  of  the  arms,  ammunition,  and  ordnance  deposited 
with  him ;  and  also  to  every  appurtenant  of  the  quarter 
master's  department.  He  must  keepi  a  strict  eye  on  the 
conduct  of  the  Spaniards,  on  the  side  of  Texhas,  and  is  to 
advise  me  by  express  at  New  Orleans,  of  every  casualty 
which  may  occur,  or  any  change  which  may  be  made  by 
them.  I  have  nothing  more  to  add,  but  to  entreat  you  to 
accelerate  your  movement  by  every  practicable  means.  I 
think  officers  who  have  families  at  Fort  Adams  should  be 
advised  to  leave  them  there,  for  if  I  mistake  not,  we  shall 
have  an  insurrection  of  blacks  as  well  as  whites  to  com- 
bat.  .  .  .  No  consideration,  my  friend,  of  family  or 
personal  inconvenience,  must  detain  the  troops  a  moment 
longer  than  can  be  avoided,  either  by  land  or  by  water ; 
they  must  come,  and  rapidly.  On  the  fifteenth  of  this 
month,  Burr's  declaration  is  to  be  made  in  Tennessee  and 
Kentucky ;  hurry,  hurry  after  me,  and,  if  necessary,  let 
us  be  buried  together  in  the  ruins  of  the  place  we  shall 
defend." 

It  was  at  least  a  variation  to  tell  Cushing  that  the 
negroes  were  to  revolt ;  but  he  never  explained  what  he 
meant  by  saying  that  Burr's  declaration  was  to  be  made 
in  Tennessee  and  Kentucky  November  1 5th ;  which  day 
the  ex-Vice-President  spent  quietly  in  Lexington. 
Then  the  urgent  order  for  the  marching  of  the  troops 
was  converted  into  arrant  nonsense  by  the  dilatoriness 
of  his  own  movements.  To  Colonel  Freeman  in  New 
Orleans  he  said:1 — 

"This  will  be  delivered  to  you  by  Major  Porter,  who 
descends  with  a  body  of  artificers,  and  laboratory  men  to 
aid  your  operations.  The  Major  carries  with  him  speci 
fic  instructions,  which  you  are  to  respect  and  support 
promptly.  We  must  repair  the  old  defenses  of  the  city; 
it  is  our  only  resort,  as  we  shall  not  have  time  to  do  more. 

"Wilkinson's  Memoirs,  ii.,  Ap.  xcix. 


WILKINSON'S  DUPLICITY          159 

.  .  .  Let  your  measures  be  taken,  as  if  by  order  from 
the  secretary  of  war ;  but  profess  utter  ignorance  of  mo 
tives.  Manifest  no  hury  or  emotion,  for  you  are  sur 
rounded  by  secret  agents,  yet  use  every  exertion  in  your 
power.  ...  I  shall  be  with  you  by  the  twentieth 
instant ;  in  the  meantime,  be  you  as  silent  as  the  grave." 

It  is  noteworthy  that  the  matter  he  wanted  kept 
silent  as  the  grave  had  already  become  notorious  on  the 
frontier.  A  friend  of  Spain  in  Natchitoches  wrote  on 
the  eighth  instant  to  Herrera,  who  had  retired  to 
Nacogdoches  i1 — 

"Our  political  crisis  is  going  to  produce  effects  of 
much  importance  to  us  and  to  our  neighbors.  General 
Wilkinson  has  received  notices  which  have  occasioned  the 
hasty  movement  of  all  the  troops  to  New  Orleans.  The 
General  said  in  confidence  to  a  friend  that  he  had  news 
which,  he  could  not  then  make  public,  but  which  the 
human  heart  discovers.  He  went  by  Natchez  to  spend 
one  night  with  his  wife,  since  he  had  to  go  forward  in 
great  haste  to  the  city  in  order  to  direct  the  operations. 
There  are  three  conjectures:  first,  war  with  Spain;  sec 
ond,  a  revolution  in  the  States;  third,  a  strong  party  to 
unite  with  Miranda.  Lieutenant  Murray  has  received  let 
ters  on  the  latter  subject  in  which  he  is  offered  an  impor 
tant  position.  .  .  .  Orders  have  been  received  to 
fortify  New  Orleans  against  these  bandits,  but  the  small 
force  of  the  United  States  in  that  city  is  not  sufficient  to 
resist  so  formidable  a  body.  It  is  believed  that  this  band 
of  adventurers  (quadrilla  de  vagamundos)  will  destroy 
whatever  appears  before  it,  and  that  the  public  banks  will 
be  robbed,  the  ships  in  the  ports  will  be  equipped,  and 
arms  and  provisions  seized.  It  is  thought  that  England 
will  be  secured  by  giving  her  a  part  or  perhaps  all  of 
South  America.  .  .  .  It  is  rumored  that  Colonel  Burr 
has  been  obliged  to  fly  from  the  interior  of  the  United 
States  and  that  many  of  his  partisans  have  been  arrested." 

'Juan  Cortez  to  Herrera,  November  8,  1806;  MSS.  Bexar 
Archives. 


160   THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

Part  of  this  letter  sounds  as  though  Wilkinson  had 
dictated  it.  The  truth  was,  no  doubt,  that  while  Wil 
kinson  professed  to  wish  the  matter  kept  a  secret,  he 
was  carefully  scattering  it  with  all  its  exaggerations. 
In  such  a  method  he  knew  the  mischief  would  be 
greater.  A  striking  statement  in  the  letter  is  the  last 
— that  Burr  had  been  obliged  to  fly.  As  a  matter  of 
fact  it  was  but  three  days  before  Cortez  wrote  that 
Burr  was  first  accused  by  Daviess  in  Frankfort.  It 
simply  shows  that  the  air  was  surcharged  with  rumors 
of  every  character.  Six  days  later  Cortez  forwarded 
another  dispatch. 

"I  sent  you  a  letter  some  days  ago  which  I  hope  has 
reached  your  hands.  Yesterday  news  came  here  that 
would  seem  to  prejudice  the  liberty  of  America  as  well  as 
that  of  its  neighbors,  and  it  is  a  matter  which  demands 
our  utmost  attention.  Colonel  Burr,  ex-Vice-President, 
has  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  20,000  men  under  the 
pretext  of  revolutionizing  and  separating  the  States  of 
the  West  from  the  rest  of  the  Union.  And  it  is  further 
stated  that  the  members  of  Congress  from  Kentucky, 
Tennessee,  and  Carolina  have  withdrawn  from  Congress. 
Various  officers  here  with  whom  I  have  talked  over  the 
matter  say  that  they  believe  Burr  'is  in  conspiracy  with 
Miranda,  who  continues  to  harass  the  coast  of  Caracas. 
Since  England  is  behind  him,  it  is  likely  they  may  direct 
an  attack  against  the  Mexican  coast,  and  as  Burr  is  in 
communication  with  them  he  may  march  to  their  assist 
ance  with  the  troops  under  him  and  many  others  which 
he  can  command."1 

When  we  consider  that  these  letters  of  Cortez  were 
written  a  month  before  Blennerhassett  fled  from  his 
island,  it  must  appear  to  what  an  amazing  degree  the 

*Juan  Cortez  to  Herrera,  Natchitoches,  November  14;  MSS. 
Bcxar  Archives. 


WILKINSON'S  DUPLICITY          161 

public  mind  was  agitated.  Society  was  prepared  to  be 
lieve  anything,  and  waited  nervously  for  some  emphatic, 
explicit  denunciation.  Wilkinson  was  the  first  one  in 
authority  to  raise  his  voice ;  and  when  he  spoke  through 
the  mouth  of  Jefferson  of  damnable  conspiracy,  to  the 
rising  commotion  was  added  consternation.  This, 
however,  did  not  mark  its  height;  Wilkinson  had  not 
as  yet  tested  his  powers. 

The  General  reached  Natchez  at  noon  November 
nth  and  repaired  at  once  to  the  country  seat  of  Major 
Minor — a  Spanish  officer  and  wealthy  planter — where 
he  found  his  invalid  wife  dying.  The  day  following 
his  arrival  he  sent  his  first  notice  to  Claiborne  of  the 
awful  storm  he  knew  to  have  been  brewing  io:  weeks, 
but  the  secret  of  which  he  had  kept  close  within  his 
breast  lest  the  knowledge  of  it  by  the  world  should 
have  produced  incalculable  disaster  :*— 

"You  are  surrounded  by  dangers  of  which  you  dream 
not,  and  the  destruction  of  the  American  government  is 
seriously  menaced.  The  storm  will  probably  burst  in 
New  Orleans,  where  I  shall  meet  it  and  triumph  or  perish. 
.  .  .  We  shall  have  a  thousand  troops  in  the  city  in 
three  weeks,  and  I  look  for  succor  by  sea.  I  have  little 
confidence  in  your  militia,  yet  I  trust  we  may  find  a  few 
patriotic  spirits  among  them.  You  have  spies  on  every 
movement  and  disposition,  and  our  safety  and  success 
depends  vitally  on  the  concealment  of  our  intentions.  I 
therefore  make  this  communication,  in  the  most  solemn 
confidence,  and  in  the  name  of  our  common  country,  that 
you  do  not  breathe  nor  even  hint  it  to  the  most  intimate 
friend  of  your  bosom.  The  reserve  may  be  painful,  but 
you  must  bear  it  until  I  see  you,  which  will  be  in  a  very 
few  days ;  and  let  me  entreat  you  that  all  your  measures 

Wilkinson's  Memoirs,  ii.,  328. 


162  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

may  be  suspended  for  my  arrival,  and  that  no  emotion 
may  be  betrayed.  Colonel  Freeman's  line  of  conduct  has 
been  prescribed  to  him.  I  shall  leave  this  place  the  day 
after  to-morrow,  but  must  dismantle  Fort  Adams,  and 
remove  every  offensive  weapon  from  it.  I  fear  our  gov 
ernment  have  been  surprised — but  within  six  days  from 
the  present,  the  President  will  be  fully  apprised  of  the 
plot,  which  implicates  thousands ;  and  among  them  some 
of  your  particular  friends,  as  well  as  my  own.  I  again 
solemnly  charge  you,  to  hold  this  communication  to  your 
own  breast,  excepting  Colonel  Freeman." 

That  Wilkinson  should  have  "little  confidence"  in 
the  citizens  who  had  responded  almost  to  a  man  to 
repel  the  Spaniards,  and  whom  he  had  a  few  days 
earlier  praised  for  their  sacrifices  and  patriotic  services, 
was  to  be  expected — there  was  still  some  virtue  in  con 
sistency!  But  are  we  to  believe  he  thought  New  Or 
leans  seriously  endangered?  That  conspirators  to  the 
number  of  seven  thousand  were  actually  concentrating 
to  descend  upon  the  city  in  the  fashion  of  mediaeval 
robber-knights  ? 

The  day  he  wrote  Claiborne  he  directed  a  long  dis 
patch  to  the  President  which  was  sent  by  special  mes 
senger  i1 — 

"Many  circumstances  have  intervened  since  my  last, 
confirmatory  of  the  information  received,  and  demonstra 
tive  of  a  deep,  dark,  and  wicked  conspiracy.  My  doubts 
have  ceased,  and  it  is  my  opinion,  that  naught  but  an  im 
mediate  peace  in  Europe  can  prevent  an  explosion  which 
may  desolate  these  settlements,  inflict  a  deep  wound  on 
our  Republican  politics,  involve  us  in  a  foreign  conflict, 
and  shake  the  Government  to  its  foundation.  .  .  . 
This  is  indeed  a  deep,  dark,  and  wide-spread  conspiracy, 
embracing  the  young  and  the  old,  the  Democrat  and  the 

Wilkinson's  Memoirs,  ii.,  Ap.  c.  { 


WILKINSON'S  DUPLICITY          163 

Federalist,  the  native  and  the  foreigner,  the  patriot  of  '76 
and  the  exotic  of  yesterday,  the  opulent  and  the  needy, 
the  ins  and  the  outs ;  and  I  fear  it  will  receive  strong  sup 
port  in  New  Orleans,  from  a  quarter  little  suspected. 
.  .  .  You  will  perceive  on  inquiry  that  my  means  are 
greatly  deficient,  but  may  rest  satisfied  that  nothing  shall 
be  omitted  which  can  be  accomplished  by  indefatigable 
industry,  incessant  vigilance,  and  hardy  courage;  and  I 
gasconade  not  when  I  tell  you  that,  in  such  a  cause,  I 
shall  glory  to  give  my  life  to  the  service  of  my  country ; 
for  I  verily  believe  such  an  event  is  probable;  because 
should  seven  thousand  men  descend  from  the  Ohio,  and 
this  is  the  calculation,  they  will  bring  with  them  the 
sympathies  and  good  wishes  of  that  country,  and  none 
but  friends  can  be  afterwards  prevailed  on  to  follow  them  : 
with  my  handful  of  veterans,  however  gallant,  it  is  im 
probable  I  shall  be  able  to  withstand  such  a  disparity  of 
numbers ;  and  it  would  seem  we  must  be  sacrificed  unless 
you  should  be  able  to  succor  me  seasonably  by  sea,  with 
two  thousand  men  and  a  naval  armament,  to  command 
the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi.  To  give  effect  to  my  mili 
tary  arrangements,  it  is  absolutely  indispensible  New 
Orleans  and  its  environs  should  be  placed  under  martial 
law.  ...  To  insure  the  triumph  of  Government 
over  its  enemies,  I  am  obliged  to  resort  to  political  finesse 
and  military  stratagem.  I  must  hold  out  false  colors, 
conceal  my  designs,  and  cheat  my  adversaries  into  a  state 
of  security,  that,  when  I  do  strike,  it  may  be  with  more 
force  and  effect;  and  therefore  my  own  bosom,  were  it 
possible,  should  be  the  sole  repository  of  my  determina 
tions.  But  independent  of  considerations  of  policy,  my 
personal  safety  will  require  the  most  profound  reserve, 
to  the  last  moment  of  indecision ;  for  were  my  intentions 
exposed,  there  are  more  than  three  desperate  enthusiasts 
in  New  Orleans,  who  would  seek  my  life,  and  although  I 
may  be  able  to  smile  at  danger  in  open  conflict,  I  will 
confess  I  dread  the  stroke  of  the  assassin,  because  it  can 
not  confer  an  honorable  death." 

This  startling  message  was  intrusted  to  one  Isaac 
Briggs,  who,  January  i,  1807,  whilst  congratulations 


164  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

for  the  New  Year  were  being  received  at  the  White 
House,  dismounted  at  its  door  and  delivered  his  letters 
to  Jefferson.  When  he  had  opened  them  he  exclaimed : 
"Is  Wilkinson  sound  in  this  business?"  Briggs  replied 
that  there  was  "not  the  slightest  doubt  of  it."1  The 
equanimity  of  the  President  on  the  occasion  was  re 
markable.  "Is  Wilkinson  sound  in  this  business?"  was 
in  truth  a  feeble  exclamation  to  utter  over  so  drastic  an 
exposure  of  a  conspiracy  at  once  formidable  in  force 
and  execrable  in  its  nature.  But  Wilkinson's  honesty 
was  suspected,  and  in  consequence  the  President's 
course  for  a  time  was  marked  by  colorless  action.  He 
could  not  yet  bring  himself  to  believe  that  a  crisis  in 
the  affairs  of  the  Union  threatening  its  existence  was 
actually  arrived. 

At  the  moment  Wilkinson  wrote  to  Freeman  in 
New  Orleans  to  hasten  the  works  of  defense ;  to  Cush- 
ing  to  "hurry,  hurry" ;  to  Claiborne  that  he  was  sur 
rounded  by  dangers  of  which  he  did  not  dream ;  and  to 
the  President  that  a  "deep,  dark,  and  wicked  con 
spiracy"  was  about  to  shake  the  nation  to  its  founda 
tion — at  that  very  moment  he  was  making  final  ar 
rangements  to  send  Walter  Burling  to  Mexico  on  as 
shameful  an  undertaking  as  our  history  chronicles. 
When  confronted  with  the  fact  of  this  expedition  he 
replied  that  it  went  "on  grounds  of  public  duty  and  pro 
fessional  enterprise  to  attempt  to  penetrate  the  veil 
which  concealed  the  topographical  route  to  the  City  of 
Mexico,  and  the  military  defenses  which  intervened, 
that  the  equivocal  relations  of  the  two  countries  justi- 

Wilkinson's  Memoirs,  ii.,  Ap.  lix. 


WILKINSON'S  DUPLICITY          165 


fied  the  ruse."  Hardly  had  Wilkinson  finished  his 
batch  of  official  dispatches  when  he  wrote  on  Novem 
ber  1 3th  to  Burling:1 — 

"I  have  reflected  on  your  proposition  respecting  a 
purchase  of  mules ;  I  can  see  no  impropriety  in  it ;  but 
in  turning  the  subject  in  my  mind  another  of  public  im 
portance  has  struck  me;  this  is  to  avail  yourself  of  the 
present  alarm  produced  by  Colonel  Burr's  projects  to 
effect  a  visit  to  the  city  of  Mexico  by  the  interior,  and  to 
return  by  water  in  order  to  examine  both  routes,  relative 
to  their  practicability  and  the  means  of  defense  the  Span 
iards  possess.  I  have  long  been  in  quest  of  this  informa 
tion,  but  have  not  succeeded  to  my  satisfaction  and  deem 
it  at  the  present  posture  of  public  affairs  highly  interest 
ing  to  our  country.  If  you  can  combine  this  object  with 
your  private  views,  I  will  frame  instructions  for  you  and 
will  give  you  a  formal  passport  out  of  our  territories,  with 
express  authority  to  proceed  to  Mexico  for  the  purpose 
of  advising  the  viceroy  of  Burr's  meditated  designs." 

It  is  evident  from  this  that  the  matter  of  Burling's 
Mexican  trip  had  been  discussed  and  settled  before  they 
reached  Natchez— perhaps  long  before.  The  proposi 
tion  of  buying  mules  was  most  ludicrous,  and  was 
nothing  more  than  a  trifling  subterfuge.  The  trans 
parency  of  the  illicit  undertaking  as  well  as  its  maturity 
appears  in  Burling's  reply,  which  came  the  ensuing 
day:2— 

"I  received  your  favor  late  last  evening  and  in  reply 
inform  you  that  I  am  disposed  to  forward  your  views  by 
my  best  endeavors,  provided  I  can  do  so  without  exposing 
myself  to  the  risk  of  a  dungeon  or  a  Spanish  mine.  On 
the  subject  of  the  mules,  I  have  made  my  determinations 
and  shall  set  out  in  a  few  days.." 

letters  in  Relation. 
•Letters  in  Relation. 


1 66  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

The  levity  with  which  the  matter  was  treated  is  re 
markable,  so  cocksure  of  success  were  these  enterpris 
ing  patriots.  The  General  wrote  immediately  to  con 
gratulate  Mr.  Burling,  wishing  him  a  successful  jour 
ney,  and  inclosing  the  following  passport  :l — 

"To  all  persons  whom  it  may  concern:  Whereas, 
Aaron  Burr  at  the  head  of  a  powerful  combination  of 
lawless  citizens  of  the  United  States,  in  violation  of  the 
laws  of  said  states  and  without  the  privity  of  the  govern 
ment,  is  preparing  to  carry  on  an  expedition  into  the 
territory  of  his  Catholic  Majesty,  who  is  at  peace  with 
the  United  States,  I  have  thought  proper,  agreeably  to  the 
principles  of  good  faith,  and  to  exonerate  my  government 
from  a  suspicion  of  participating  in  this  design,  to  author 
ize  the  bearer  hereof,  Walter  Burling,  to  pass  all  guards 
and  garrisons  of  the  United  States  and  to  proceed  to  the 
City  of  Mexico,  for  the  purpose  of  handing  to  the  viceroy 
a  detailed  report  of  said  Burr's  plans  and  designs." 

This  passport  stands  out  in  sharp  contrast  with  the 
preceding  letter  to  the  President.  Now  the  Burr  pro 
ject  is  only  "an  expedition  into  the  territory  of  his 
Catholic  Majesty."  The  two  documents  varied  with 
the  necessities  of  the  case. 

Wilkinson's  good  friend  Stephen  Minor,  who  still 
held  his  Spanish  commission,  also  lent  Burling  a  safe 
guard.  His  motive  for  so  doing  will  probably  never  be 
known.  He  might  have  been  in  the  secret,  but  the 
chances  are  that  he  was  grossly  deceived,  that  out  of 
a  desire  to  serve  his  country  he  unwittingly  protected 
Burling  on  his  mercenary  mission. 

"I,  Stephen  Minor,"  read  the  passport,  dated  Natchez, 
November  I7th,2  "captain  in  the  royal  armies  and  actu- 

'Letters  in  Relation. 
'MSS.  Bexar  Archives. 


WILKINSON'S  DUPLICITY          167 

ally  in  the  territory  of  Natchez  by  his  Majesty's  orders, 
solicit  the  commanders  and  governors  of  the  Internal 
Provinces  of  the  Kingdom  of  Mexico  to  pass  Walter  Bur 
ling  to  the  City  of  Mexico  on  business  of  the  royal  service. 
I  beg  and  supplicate  of  each  that  you  will  supply  him 
with  the  necessary  auxiliaries,  so  that  he  may  arrive  early 
at  his  destination." 

Thus  fortified,  and  with  a  long  dispatch  for  the 
Viceroy,  Burling  set  out  for  the  capital  of  New  Spain, 
and  before  the  end  of  November  presented  himself  at 
the  Spanish  camp  near  Nacogdoches.  December  ist, 
Herrera  sent  an  account  of  the  interview  to  Governor 
Cordero,  who  had  returned  to  San  Antonio  de  Bexar  i1 

"Yesterday,  General  Wilkinson's  aide-de-camp,  Wal 
ter  Burling,  presented  himself  at  this  place  with  a  pass 
port  and  a  letter  closed  and  sealed  for  the  Viceroy  of 
these  dominions  of  Spain,  written  as  it  expressed,  by  Don 
Estevan  Minor;  and  Burling  further  stated  that  he  had 
orders  from  his  General  to  bear  to  Mexico  to  his  Excel 
lency,  the  Viceroy,  which  were  of  the  utmost  importance 
concerning  the  security  of  the  Kingdom.  Upon  my  giving 
my  word  of  honor  to  the  aide-de-camp,  I  have  learned  the 
details  of  the  General's  letter  to  the  Viceroy  which  only 
confirms  what  I  wrote  you  the  i8th,  iQth,  and  2oth  of 
last  month  relative  to  the  embryo  revolution  in  the  United 
States,  with  its  hostile  designs  toward  the  Kingdom  of 
Mexico.  In  order  to  allay  suspicions  I  have  made  it 
public  that  they  come  here  to  buy  mules  and  horses  in 
this  province  of  the  kingdom,  agreeably  to  the  harmony 
which  now  exists  between  us  and  Wilkinson.  In  order 
that  they  may  go  securely,  I  have  dispatched  Captain 
Jose  Maria  Sada  and  my  own  son,  a  cadet  of  infantry,  to 
accompany  them  as  far  as  Monterey.  To  disguise  the 
departure  of  my  officers,  I  have  given  out  that  they  go 
to-morrow  to  the  Trinity  on  business  pertaining  to  the 

Herrera  to  Cordero,  December  i,  1806;  MSS.  Bexar  Archives. 


1 68  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

Kingdom.  Burling  did  not  wish  to  pass  through  this 
plrice  [Nacogdoches],  for  fear  some  one  would  write  of 
his  mission ;  so,  I  directed  him  by  the  road  to  Bahia  del 
Espiritu  Santo." 

From  this  it  is  obvious  that  Burling  was  given 
every  assistance  in  his  long  overland  trip  through  the 
provinces  of  Mexico.  That  he  was  on  any  other  busi 
ness  than  that  set  forth  in  his  passports  seems  never 
•to  have  been  suspected.  The  deception  of  the  Spanish 
officers  was  complete. 

Iturrigaray,  the  ill-starred  Viceroy,  knew  of  the 
approach  of  Burling  and  wrote  January  20,  1807,  to 
Cevallos  that  General  Wilkinson  had  sent  him  an  aide- 
de-camp.  "He  brings  me  messages  which  I  suppose 
must  be  concerning  the  designs  of  the  ex-Vice-Presi- 
dent  Burr."1  A  few  days  later  Burling  indeed  rode 
into  the  City  of  Mexico  and  delivered  his  dispatches, 
and,  before  the  end  of  February,  1807,  returned  to 
the  General  in  New  Orleans.  March  I2th  Iturrigaray 
wrote  from  Xalapa  to  the  Spanish  Minister  of  State, 
dealing  with  Wilkinson's  communications,  which  ex 
posed  the  movements  and  intentions  of  Burr.  The 
Viceroy  goes  into  detail  in  this  extraordinarily  impor 
tant  message. 

"In  my  letter  of  January,  2Oth  ult.,"  Iturrigaray  be 
gan,2  "I  said  among  other  things,  that  I  had  notice  of 
the  approach  of  an  aide-de-camp  from  the  American  Gen 
eral  Wilkinson,  who  brought  me  dispatches  which  I  sup 
posed  related  to  the  intentions  of  Colonel  Burr.  The  aide 

'Iturrigaray  to  Cevallos,  January  20,  1807;  MSS.  Mexican 
Archives. 

'Iturrigaray  to  Cevallos,  March  12,  1807;  MSS.  Mexican 
Archives. 


WILKINSON'S  DUPLICITY          169 

arrived  in  fact,  and  delivered  to  me  the  General's  letter, 
a  copy  of  which  I  inclose  to  you.  In  it  you  will  see  that 
he  lays  great  stress  on  the  measures  which  he  has  taken 
at  the  risk  of  his  life,  fame,  and  fortune  in  order  to  save, 
or  at  least  to  protect  this  Kingdom  from  the  attacks  of  the 
insurgents.  He  calls  my  attention  with  extraordinary 
emphasis  to  Vera  Cruz  and  its  coasts  as  the  point  of 
attack ;  even  indicating  that  the  bandits,  as  he  calls  them, 
might  have  reached  the  City  of  Mexico.  He  finally 
comes  to  what  I  had  anticipated,  the  question  of  payment 
for  his  services.  He  asks  for  $85,000  in  one  sum,  and 
$26,000  in  another.  But,  not  content  with  this,  he  says 
he  considers  it  just  and  equitable  to  be  reimbursed  for 
those  sums  he  has  been  obliged  to  spend  in  order  to  sus 
tain  the  cause  of  good  government,  order,  and  humanity. 
Understanding  the  desires  of  the  General  I  destroyed  his 
letter,  after  it  had  been  translated,  in  the  presence  of  his 
aide-de-camp,  whose  conversation  with  me  did  not  for 
ward  the  demands  of  his  General,  nor  add  anything  to  the 
information  I  had  of  the  intentions  of  Colonel  Burr.  In 
my  answer  to  the  General  I  gave  him  to  understand  that 
the  revolutionists  had  not  caused  me  any  alarm ;  for  I  had 
been  long  prepared  to  repel  them  by  force,  even  though 
their  numbers  had  been  much  greater.  I  informed  him 
that  I  could  not  pay  the  sums  of  money  asked  without 
definite  orders  from  the  King;  and  that  I  had  arranged 
for  the  hasty  return  of  his  aide.  In  conclusion  I  thanked 
him  for  his  martial  zeal,  and  insinuated  that  I  wished  him 
happiness  in  the  pursuit  of  his  righteous  intentions. 
From  here  the  aide-de-camp  went  to  Vera  Cruz,  from 
which  port  he  sailed  in  the  American  schooner  Liberty, 
for  New  Orleans,  February  loth,  accompanied  by  his 
interpreter  and  servants." 

This  document  speaks  for  itself.  It  is  the  key  which 
unlocks  the  cipher  of  Wilkinson's  conduct  in  the 
month  of  November,  1806 — the  month  witnessing  the 
establishment  of  the  Neutral  Ground  Treaty,  the  accu 
sation  of  Burr,  and  the  appearance  of  the  Proclamation. 


170  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

The  crisis  of  the  conspiracy  came  with  the  culmination 
of  the  Spanish  affair  on  the  Sabine;  indeed  at  this 
point  the  crises  were  merged,  were  as  inseparable  as 
substance  and  shadow.  If  the  conspiracy  were  not  the 
shadow,  it  flourished  only  in  the  shadow  of  the  Spanish 
War  agitation. 

rWe  are  now  in  a  position  better  to  estimate  the 
sincerity  and  unselfishness  of  General  Wilkinson.  From 
the  moment  Herrera  evacuated  Bayou  Pierre,  Septem 
ber  27,  1806,  James  Wilkinson  had  nothing  in  common 
with  Dayton,  Burr,  and  the  rest.  It  was  no  longer  in 
his  power  to  compel  the  war ;  Burr  and  his  confederates 
were  making  ready  for  their  descent  of  the  river;  the 
country  at  large  was  every  day  becoming  more  annoyed 
and  alarmed  at  the  preparations  for  the  expedition ;  the 
press  viciously  assailed  both  himself  and  Burr,  who 
were  declared  in  league  for  the  express  purpose  of 
establishing  a  Western  empire — all  of  which  convinced 
Wilkinson  that  now  was  the  time  to  establish  that 
"honorable  fame,"  and  to  acquire  at  a  stroke  that  for 
tune  which  he  prized  for  its  "immediate  utility  only" ! 
To  a  man  of  his  metal  and  genius  it  seemed  much  easier 
to  turn  the  tide  of  public  execration  against  Burr  and 
his  base  confederates  than  to  prove  to  the  satisfac 
tion  of  the  courts,  after  Burr's  arrival,  that  they  had 
not  all  of  them  been  guilty  of  a  high  misdemeanor.  So 
he  decided  to  raise  the  cry  which  was  to  echo  for  a 
century — "Treason  in  the  West."'  Viewed  in  the  light 
of  his  representation  of  the  conspiracy  to  the  Viceroy, 
his  alarming  letters  to  the  President  appear  somewhat 
overdrawn,  shorn  of  some  of  their  terribly  dramatic 


WILKINSON'S  DUPLICITY          171 

interest;  while  his  heroic  language  sinks  to  the  level 
of  the  mountebank's  when  written  beside  the  demand 
made  of  Iturrigaray. 

It  happened  by  coincidence  that  the  day  the  Viceroy 
wrote  Cevallos  concerning  Wilkinson's  tale  of  the  con 
spiracy  and  his  demand  for  money,  the  General  for 
warded  to  Jefferson  a  report  of  the  condition  of 
Mexico,  purporting  to  have  come  from  Burling.  This 
was  accompanied  by  the  request  for  one  thousand  five 
hundred  dollars,  the  amount  alleged  to  have  been  ex 
pended  on  Burling's  praiseworthy  undertaking.  And 
Jefferson  had  not  the  heart  to  deny  one  whom  he  re 
garded  a  faithful  servant. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

The  Two  Arraignment*  of  Burr  in  Kentucky 
* 

WHILE  the  inhabitants  of  Frankfort,  Ken 
tucky,  were  celebrating  the  Fourth  of  July 
(1806)  there  appeared  on  the  streets  of  the 
city  the  first  issue  of  a  weekly  newspaper  entitled  the 
Western  World.  It  is  never  possible  to  estimate  the 
influence  of  a  force  in  a  community ;  but  the  Western 
World  played  no  small  part  in  fixing  in  the  minds  of 
the  people  the  idea  of  treason  in  the  conspiracy.  This 
was  accomplished  by  instilling  new  life  into  the  old 
intrigues  and  treasons  which  had  played  a  part  in  Ken 
tucky  politics,  especially  the  Spanish  Association  which 
had  owed  everything  to  Wilkinson.  The  case  made  out 
against  the  Spanish  conspirators  was  too  strong  to 
be  resisted — many  authentic  documents  were  printed 
which  could  not  be  controverted.  Judge  Sebastian, 
formerly  associated  with  Wilkinson,  resigned  as  judge 
of  the  Court  of  Appeals  of  the  State  before  the  commit 
tee  appointed  by  the  Legislature  to  investigate  his  con 
duct  could  make  a  report.  The  attack  on  Wilkinson 
led  by  the  Western  World  was  most  scathing  and  vin 
dictive.  But  the  General  was  beyond  reach.  He  was 
aware,  however,  that  he  had  been  branded  a  pensioner 
of  Spain,  and  had  himself  months  earlier  taken  up  the 
controversy  in  the  press  from  his  station  in  St.  Louis. 
He  had  written  the  President,  too,  that  he  feared  his 
faith  in  him  might  be  shaken  by  those  vile  calumnies 

172 


TWO  KENTUCKY  ARRAIGNMENTS    173 

which  he  could  refute  by  unquestioned  documents. 
Here  was  a  vital  source  of  suspicions  and  misunder 
standings  —  and  the  people  were  compelled  to  admit, 
despite  their  wishes,  the  truth  of  the  allegations  of 
the  sensational  press;  they  realized  that  at  an  earlier 
time  Wilkinson  and  others  had  been  guilty  of  foster 
ing  a  base  plot  to  separate  the  States  —  to  throw  one 
fragment  into  the  power  of  Spain  —  and  now  that  a 
new  conspiracy  was  actually  under  way  in  their  midst, 
a  conspiracy  whose  leaders  were  alleged  to  be  Wilkin 
son  and  Burr,  the  trend  of  their  thoughts  can  be  fore 
shadowed. 

Joseph  M.  Street  and  John  Wood  were  the  editors 
and  proprietors  of  the  Western  World.1  Nothing  is 
known  of  Street's  antecedents  ;  the  latter  had  come  into 
notice  as  the  author  of  a  History  of  the  Last  Adminis 
tration,  in  the  suppression  of  which  both  Burr  and 
Wood  figured  and  lost  heavily  in  the  confidence  of  the 
party  to  which  they  adhered.  Not  prospering  in  New 
York  Wood  betook  himself  to  Richmond  where  he  again 
failed  to  receive  the  recognition  which  his  ability  as  a 
newspaper  hack  deserved.  He  accordingly  pushed  on 
over  the  mountains  to  Frankfort  where  he  found  a 
more  congenial  atmosphere,  and  a  field  teeming  with 
unexploited  sensations.  He  was  now  in  his  ele 
ment,  and  the  Western  World  sprang  up  like  a 
noxious  mushroom.  Humphrey  Marshall,  leader  of 


,  iii.,  272,  and  McMaster,  iii.,  64,  credit  Daviess  with 
having  established  the  Western  World  for  the  purpose  of  ex 
posing  the  plot  of  Burr.  According  to  the  Palladium  for  July  6, 
1806,  the  World  was  printed  under  contract,  in  the  office  of  the 
Palladium,  for  Messrs.  Street  and  Wood. 


i74  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

the  Federalist  faction,  became  an  efficient  contributor; 
but  the  life  of  the  new  publication  was  Wood,  for  upon 
his  withdrawal,  after  the  second  trial  of  Burr  in  Ken 
tucky,  the  World  ceased  to  exist. 

The  initial  number  of  the  periodical  contained  the 
first  of  a  series  of  articles  by  Marshall  on  the  "Spanish 
Association."  As  an  apology  for  the  introduction  of 
the  subject  at  so  late  a  date,  it  was  asserted  that  the 
seeds  of  it  were  only  dormant,  and  that,  if  it  were  suf 
fered  to  spring  up,  dire  consequences  would  result.  To 
this  startling  assertion  the  Palladium,  the  official  organ 
of  the  Government,  took  immediate  exception.  It  dis 
countenanced  the  whole  affair,  declaring  that  the  time 
had  passed  when  there  was  cause  for  fear;  the  people 
of  Kentucky  were  not  to  be  drawn  away  by  chimerical 
schemes;  their  devotion  to  the  Union  was  as  ardent 
and  sincere  as  that  of  any  other  portion  of  its  citizens.1 

From  the  first  the  task  the  Western  World  set  for 
itself  was  of  the  most  sensational  character.  Three 
topics  were  designed  for  discussion:  i.  The  Kentucky 
Spanish  Association;  2.  Blount's  conspiracy;  3.  The 
Miranda  Expedition.2  The  first  article  on  the  Spanish 
Association  roused  the  most  heated  controversies  and 
recriminations.  Street,  ignoring  a  challenge  from 
George  Adams,  was  posted  as,  a  poltroon,  and  was 
later  openly  assaulted.  Abuse;' however,  did  not  affect 
the  sale  of  the  World,  and  by  the  middle  of  August  it 
boasted  a  subscription  list  of  one  thousand — a  large 
clientele  for  that  time.  The  Palladium  opened  its  col- 

*Palladium,  July  10,  1806. 
'Palladium,  July  17,  1806. 


TWO  KENTUCKY  ARRAIGNMENTS    175 

umns  to  replies  to  the  World,  and  the  editor,  William 
Hunter,  was  straightway  accused  of  having  been  bribed 
by  the  conspirators.1  Wood  and  Marshall  in  their 
spirited  attacks  on  the  Spanish  Association,  and  the 
enterprise  of  Blount  kept  Burr's  name  always  in  view ; 
he  was  connected  in  this  way  with  the  men  who  were 
remembered  as  having  entertained  ideas  which  favored 
the  incorporation  of  the  States  west  of  the  Alleghany 
Mountains  with  some  foreign  power.  Before  the  mid 
dle  of  September,  while  Wilkinson  was  en  route  for 
Natchitoches  to  repel  the  Spaniards,  with  the  President 
outwardly  blinking  at  a  war,  Wood  was  revealing  the 
secrets  of  the  new  project  to  an  over-expectant  public : 

"The  original  design  of  the  Kentucky  Spanish  Asso 
ciation  has  been  entirely  abandoned.  The  views  of  the 
conspirators  are  no  longer  to  unite  with  Spain,  but  to 
form  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Ohio,  Indiana,  the  Louisia- 
nas,  and  the  Floridas  into  one  independent  government. 
The  advocates  for  this  measure  differ,  however,  in  one 
point.  The  majority  are  for  effecting  this  measure  by 
calling  a  convention  of  the  people  and  obtaining  the  con 
sent  of  Congress;  but  a  considerable  number,  and  par 
ticularly  those  who  at  present  reside  in  the  Western  Terri 
tory,  are  for  effecting  their  purpose  by  force  of  arms."8 

This  sensational  paragraph,  as  the  editors  afterward 
confessed  under  oath,  had  no  other  foundation  than  the 
gossip  of  the  hour.  Nevertheless  it  wrought  mischief 
of  incalculable  degree.  That  the  World,  printed  at  the 
capital  of  Kentucky,  should  calmly  discourse  of  treason 
was  warrant  enough  for  the  East,  remote  and  isolated 
by  barriers  of  nature,  to  credit  reports  verging  on  mad- 

lPalladium,  August  21,  1806. 
^Palladium,  September  18,  1806. 


1 76  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

ness.  Nor  was  it  sufficient  to  bring  quiet  that  the 
World  should  become  a  hissing  and  a  byword  in  the 
West — its  insidious  preaching  won  converts  against 
their  wills.  "The  existence  of  such  a  conspiracy  at  the 
present  day,"  retorted  Hunter  in  the  Palladium,  refer- 
ing  to  the  charge  of  Street  and  Wood,  "cannot  be 
seriously  believed  by  any  thinking  man  of  any  party, 
however  politic  it  may  be  deemed  to  pretend  so."  The 
'  Lexington  Gazette  scorned  the  assertion  that  the  Span 
ish  plot  was  still  in  existence;1  and  the  National  Intelli 
gencer  declared  "that  our  Western  brethren  are  as 
ardently  attached  to  the  Union  as  the  inhabitants  of  any 
section  of  it.  We  have  evidence  that  the  most  remote 
suggestion  of  a  separation  fills  their  minds  with  alarm, 
justly  viewing  it  as  the  most  dreadful  evil  which  could 
befall  them."  2  But  this  was  not  the  view  in  every 
quarter.  "In  a  recent  issue  of  the  Philadelphia  Ga 
zette,  a  Federalist  paper,"  reported  the  Palladium,  "the 
people  of  this  country  are  represented  'as  ripe  for 
revolt,  and  that  the  Kentucky  papers  openly  advocate 
the  idea  of  a  separation  from  the  Union/  '  It  was 
a  ridiculous,  insulting  notion,  commented  Hunter,  and 
to  see  "such  stuff"  in  an  Eastern  journal  occasioned  no 
surprise,  for  only  recently  some  of  the  papers  in  the 
Atlantic  States  had  avowed  that  five  thousand  men 
were  in  arms  in  the  West  against  the  Government.3 

The  excitement,  despite  the  fact  that  few  paid 
serious  heed  to  the  assertions  of  the  World,  continued 
to  spread.  To  Joseph  Hamilton  Daviess,  prosecuting- 

^alladium,  August  17,  1806. 

'National  Intelligencer,  November  7,  1806. 

^Palladium,  November  27,  1806. 


TWO  KENTUCKY  ARRAIGNMENTS    177 

attorney  for  the  Federal  district  of  Kentucky,  this  was 
particularly  pleasing,  for  he  had  been  sending  to  the 
President  letter  after  letter  concerning  a  conspiracy — 
at  least  of  some  character. 

Before  Graham,  the  President's  agent  of  inquiry 
into  the  conduct  of  Burr,  reached  the  Alleghanies, 
Daviess  had  accused  Burr  in  the  Federal  court  at 
Frankfort  of  having  violated  the  laws  of  the  Union  in 
setting  on  foot  an  unauthorized  expedition  against 
Mexico.  November  5th  was  the  day,  a  day  likewise 
memorable  as  the  date  for  the  establishment  of  the  Neu 
tral  Ground  Treaty.  Whether  the  prosecution  was  ani 
mated  fay  Daviess's  Federalist  affiliations,  or  by  a  de 
sire  to  profit  at  the  cost  of  the  humiliation  of  Burr's 
eager  followers,  who  were  Republicans  and  leaders  of 
State  politics,  cannot  be  determined.  "Daviess  insti 
tuted  the  first  proceedings  against  him,"  recorded  Blen- 
nerhassett  in  his  Journal,1  "partly  from  a  sense  of  neg 
lect  on  the  part  of  Burr,  and  through  enmity  to  the 
President,  who  he  fully  believed  was  concerned  with 
Burr,  or  connived  at  his  operations."  This  was  written 
on  the  strength  of  a  confession  of  John  Wood,  the 
sometime  editor  of  the  Western  World,  and  the  confi 
dant  of  Marshall  and  Daviess;  and  who,  Blennerhas- 
sett  wrote,  had  come  to  Richmond  to  lend  his  assistance 
in  righting  some  of  the  wrongs  he  himself  had  aided 
in  inflicting  on  Burr.  Daviess's  pamphlet  entitled,  A 
View  of  the  President's  Conduct,  published  after  the 
conspiracy  collapsed,  is  a  caustic  commentary  on  his 
own  conduct,  and  proves,  whatever  his  motives  were, 

*Blennerhasset  Papers,  p.  373- 


178  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

that  it  was  not  patriotic  zeal  which  spurred  him  to 
bring  Burr  into  court. 

A  compulsory  process  was  moved  before  Judge 
Innes  of  the  Federal  court  against  Aaron  Burr ;  a  sec 
ond,  for  compelling  the  attendance  of  witnesses.  The 
accused,  who  was  at  Lexington  when  he  heard  of  this 
proceeding,  quietly  sent  a  messenger  to  say  that  he 
would  appear  on  Saturday ;  then,  knowing  that  the  news 
would  reach  Blennerhassett  greatly  magnified,  he  wrote 
him  that  he  had  been  charged  with  treasonable  practice 
of  some  description;  that  he  did  not  know  how  the 
charge  was  supported;  that 'since  the  grand  jury  had 
made  no  investigation  he  presumed  the  motion  had 
been  made  to  influence  public  opinion.  He  concluded 
by  assuring  his  associate  that  there  was  no  cause  for 
anxiety  as  to  the  outcome.1 

Burr  reached  Frankfort  Friday ;  and  Saturday  ap 
peared  at  the  bar.  The  tribunal,  which  was  presided 
over  by  Harry  Innes — also  charged,  though  without 
credible  proof,  with  having  been  influential  in  the 
councils  of  the  Spanish  Conspirators — denied  the  mo 
tions  of  the  State's  attorney  because  of  their  irregu 
larity;  whereupon  Burr  rose  and  demanded  an  exam 
ination.  After  the  grand  jury  was  impaneled,  court 
adjourned  to  the  next  Wednesday  to  allow  time  for 
the  summoning  of  witnesses.  "The  event  spread 
rapidly  throughout  the  country,  generally  mingled  with 
error  and  exaggeration,"  said  the  Palladium;  and 
Frankfort  was  soon  crowded  with  the  interested  and 
the  curious.  At  the  appointed  hour  the  court  was  called 

lBlennerhasset  Papers,  p.  153. 


TWO  KENTUCKY  ARRAIGNMENTS    179 

to  order,  and  as  the  charge  was  about  to  be  delivered 
to  the  grand  jury  Daviess  rose  and  asked  for  its  dis 
charge,  saying  that  he  could  not  proceed  since  one  of 
his  witnesses,  Davis  Floyd  of  Indiana,  was  absent.1 
The  investigation  was  accordingly  adjourned. 

The  affair  was  roundly  ridiculed  by  the  crowd. 
Daviess  had  sworn  out  a  compulsory  process  to  bring 
Burr  into  court;  Burr  had  voluntarily  appeared,  and, 
to  the  confusion  of  the  attorney,  demanded  an  exami 
nation  which  he  was  not  brave  enough  to  attempt.  This 
was  peculiarly  hard  for  the  prosecutor  as  there  was  no 
legitimate  excuse  for  adopting  such  tactics.  What  is 
more,  his  knowledge  of  Burr's  project  extended  over 
months;  and  one  would  have  thought,  recalling  his 
letters  to  the  President,  that  there  was  no  detail  that 
had  not  been  considered.  The  Palladium  referred  as 
follows  to  the  incident  of  the  trial  :2 

"Colonel  Burr  has  throughout  this  business  conducted 
himself  with  the  calmness,  moderation,  and  firmness 
which  have  characterized  him  through  life.  He  evinced 
an  earnest  desire  for  a  full  and  speedy  investigation — free 
from  irritation  or  emotion ;  he  excited  the  strongest  sen 
sation  of  respect  and  friendship  in  the  breast  of  every 
impartial  person  present." 

If  Hunter  could  print  such  a  paragraph,  it  is  the 
more  interesting  to  contrast  the  account  of  Street  and 
Wood,  who,  now  that  Burr  was  actually  accused,  hast 
ened  to  give  publicity  to  the  most  astounding  tales. 

"On  this  extraordinary  occasion,"  commented  the 
Western  World  on  the  accusation  of  Burr,  "we  are  well 

1Palladium,  November  13,  1806 
"Palladium,  November  13,  1806. 


180  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

aware  that  the  field  of  conjecture  will  be  traveled  in 
every  direction  by  the  curious  reader  and  inquisitive  poli 
tician.  With  ourselves,  we  confess  it  has  excited  neither 
astonishment  nor  surprise,  being,  as  we  before  mentioned, 
well  informed  of  the  subject  eighteen  months  ago.  This 
was  the  business  which  we  purposed  to  unfold  under  the 
head  of  the  Miranda  Expedition.  The  expedition  was 
only  a  very  inferior  part  of  the  scheme,  and  Miranda  him 
self  an  inferior  agent  in  the  plan.  From  the  steps  which 
have  been  taken  by  the  public  attorney,  we  now  think  it 
improper  to  enter  into  a  detail  of  the  conspiracy,  being 
assured  that  he  is  in  possession  of  all  the  information  of 
which  we  are;  and  that  he  is  a  much  more  proper  instru 
ment  than  the  editors  of  a  newspaper  to  prevent  its 
accomplishment.  The  project  of  Colonel  Burr  is  doubt 
less  of  the  most  extensive  nature,  and  if  accomplished  will 
not  only  affect  the  interests  of  the  Western  country,  but 
of  the  known  world.  A  revolution  in  the  Spanish  prov 
inces  of  North  America  will  speedily,  when  aided  by  Mi 
randa,  lead  to  one  in  South  America,  and  the  whole,  along 
with  the  Western  States  of  the  Union  organized  into  one 
empire,  headed  by  a  man  of  the  enterprise  and  talents  of 
Colonel  Burr,  will  present  a  phenomenon  in  the  political 
history  of  the  globe  perhaps  only  equaled  by  the  modern 
Empire  of  France." 

A  paragraph  of  more  startling  political  significance, 
so  far  as  the  New  World  is  concerned,  has  perhaps 
never  appeared  in  print.  Even  earlier  than  this  the 
exaggerated  statements  of  the  World  had  spread  over 
the  country,  becoming  ever  further  from  the  truth. 
The  fact  that  settlements  and  States  were  isolated,  and 
that  men  might  be  collected  and  boats  constructed  and 
such  details  not  become  matters  of  public  notoriety, 
placed  things  in  a  delicate  position.  And  then  Street 
and  Wood  fortified  their  former  declarations  with  an 
actual  account  of  Burr's  denunciation  by  Daviess,  infus- 


TWO  KENTUCKY  ARRAIGNMENTS    1 8 1 

ing  new  life  into  their  statements  by  the  declaration 
that  they  had  absolute  evidence  of  Burr's  complicity  in 
the  plot  to  effect  a  disruption  of  the  Union;  and  that 
they  would  have  exposed  this  scheme,  too,  had  they 
not  been  anticipated  by  the  fast  march  of  events. 
Not  the  least  of  the  evil  effects  resulting  from  their 
publications  was  the  lamentable  impression  which 
spread  throughout  the  nation  concerning  the  loyalty 
of  the  Westerners.  So  sensational  were  the  charges, 
so  prominent  were  the  characters  involved  and  so  por 
tentous  were  the  proportions  of  the  projected  con 
spiracy,  that  the  articles  were  copied  everywhere  and 
perused  with  morbid  eagerness. 

"A  Kentucky  paper  called  the  Western  World,"  said 
the  editor  of  the  National  Intelligencer,  "attracts  very 
great  attention  here ;  among  others  Judge  Prevost,  Ed 
ward  Livingston,  General  Wilkinson,  Mr.  Burr,  Mr.  John 
Brown  of  Kentucky  are  charged  as  concerned  in  a  new 
conspiracy  against  the  peace  of  the  whole  Union,  and 
with  meditating  a  separation  of  this  section  from  the  east 
ern  parts  of  the  Union.  Many  people  here  are  acquainted 
with  the  old  conspiracy  of  a  similar  kind  concerted  with 
the  Spaniards  and  know  the  leading  characters  concerned 
in  it,  and  many  wonder  how  Wilkinson  came  to  be  ap 
pointed  to  the  chief  command  of  our  forces." 

With  marked  demonstrations  of  approval  the  West 
celebrated  the  collapse  of  the  Frankfort  inquiry  as  a 
vindication  of  Burr,  while  Daviess,  Marshall,  and  the 
Western  World  were  left  to  chagrin.  The  district- 
attorney  complained  to  the  President  that  Burr's  chief 
friends  were  supporters  of  the  Administration — a  bit 
of  information  Jefferson  could  hardly  have  relished : 


1 82  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

"The  genuine  Republicans  left  no  efforts  unemployed 
to  injure  me;  and  every  one  of  these  Espanolized  Ken- 
tuckians,  not  one  excepted,  were  Burr's  friends  and  my 
persecutor.  The  people  seemed  to  vie  with  each  other  in 
folly  and  a  zeal  to  distinguish  and  caress  this  persecuted 
patriot.  .  .  .  The  secretary  told  me  the  governor 

laughed  at  the  idea  of  Mr.  Burr's  expedition 

You  remark   in  history  that  there  are  times   in   which 
whole  nations  are  blind ;  this  seemed  to  me  to  be  one."1 

The  Frankfort  episode  in  no  wise  interrupted  the 
preparations  of  the  conspirator.  Blennerhassett  had 
encountered  no  impediment,  and  already  Andrew  Jack 
son  had  received  three  thousand  dollars  in  Kentucky 
bank  notes  with  orders  for  the  construction  of  five 
boats.  Jackson  was  also  to  purchase  supplies,  enlist 
recruits,  and  in  every  way  prepare  for  the  expedition 
which  was  to  float  down  the  Cumberland  in  December; 
and  no  time  was  lost  in  undertaking  the  fulfillment  of 
his  instructions.  Burr  again  appeared  in  Cincinnati  in 
company  with  John  Smith.  He  was  now  doubtless 
shown  Wilkinson's  letter  of  October  from  Natchitoches 
in  which  he  appealed  to  the  Senator  to  come  to  his  as 
sistance,  and  in  which  he  outlined  the  needs  and  the 
course  to  be  pursued  in  the  conquest  of  Mexico.2  But 
Burr  and  Smith  were  not  aware  that  Wilkinson  had 
already  denounced  them  to  the  President ;  that  the  Gov 
ernment's  agent,  Graham,  was  on  the  Ohio;  and  that 
the  General  was  leisurely  making  his  way  to  New  Or 
leans  to  protect  it  against  a  horde  of  bandits  daily  ex 
pected  with  Burr  at  their  head  to  fall  upon  the  city. 
While  the  agitation  was  at  its  height,  Smith  gave  out 

*View  of  the  President's  Conduct,  p.  30. 
*See  p.  130. 


TWO  KENTUCKY  ARRAIGNMENTS    183 

the  following  statement  as  embodying  in  substance 
Burr's  communications  to  him — the  language  is  Burr's 
and  it  is  the  most  explicit  enunciation  we  have  of  his 
concerning  the  nature  of  the  project  :x — 

"Mr.  Smith,  my  object  in  a  few  months  will  be  dis 
closed,  you  will  not  find  it  dishonorable  or  inimical  to  this 
Government.  I  feel  superior  to  the  mean  artifices  which 
are  ascribed  to  me.  Calumniators  I  do  not  notice,  for  as 
fast  as  you  put  one  down  another  will  rise  up.  This 
much  I  will  tell  you,  if  there  should  be  a  war  between  the 
United  States  and  Spain,  I  shall  head  a  corps  of  volun 
teers  and  be  the  first  to  march  into  the  Mexican  provinces. 
If  peace  should  be  proffered,  which  I  do  not  expect,  I  shall 
settle  my  Washita  lands,  and  make  society  as  pleasant  as 
possible.  In  this  Government  I  have  been  persecuted, 
shamefully  persecuted ;  and  I  am  sorry  to  say,  that  in  it, 
all  private  confidence  is  destroyed." 

When  the  bubble  had  burst,  Smith,  because  of  his 
connection  with  Burr,  was  practically  expelled  from  the 
Senate;  and  his  character,  though  supported  by  some  of 
the  best  people  of  his  State,  was  held  up  to  execration. 
He  was  accused  of  having  given  comfort  to  Burr  and  of 
having  engaged  to  supply  accessories — a  thousand 
pack-saddles  and  an  equal  number  of  bear  skins.  March 
27,  1807,  Smith  appealed  in  vain  to  the  President  for  a 
copy  of  the  accusations  which  had  been  brought  against 
him.2  But  to  prove  his  untrustworthiness  it  was  enough 
that  Burr  should  have  rested  in  his  house.  Leaving 
Cincinnati  for  the  last  time  the  chief  intriguer  turned 
his  rein  toward  Louisville,  from  which  place  he 

^Liberty  Hall,  February  24,  1807. 

"Smith  to  Jefferson,  March  27,  1807;  Jefferson  MSS. 


1 84  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

wrote  November  27th  to  Governor  Harrison  of  the 
Northwest  Territory  :* — 

"Considering  the  various  and  extravagant  reports 
which  circulate  concerning  me,  it  may  not  be  unsatisfac 
tory  to  you  to  be  informed  (and  to  you  there  can  be  no 
better  source  of  information  than  myself)  that  I  have 
no  wish  or  design  to  attempt  a  separation  of  the  Union, 
that  I  have  no  connection  with  any  foreign  power  or 
government,  that  I  never  meditated  the  introduction  of 
any  foreign  power  or  influence  into  the  United  States, 
or  any  part  of  its  territories,  but  on  the  contrary  should 
repel  with  indignation  any  proposition  or  measure  having 
that  tendency;  in  fine,  that  I  have  no  project  or  views 
hostile  to  the  interest,  or  tranquillity,  or  union  of  the 
United  States,  or  prejudicial  to  its  government;  and  I 
pledge  you  my  honor  for  the  truth  of  this  declaration. 
It  is  true  that  I  am  engaged  in  an  extensive  speculation, 
and  that  with  me  are  associated  some  of  your  intimate 
and  dearest  friends.  The  objects  are  such  as  every  man 
of  honor  and  every  good  citizen  must  approve.  They 
have  been  communicated  to  several  of  the  principal  offi 
cers  of  our  government,  particularly  to  one  high  in  the 
confidence  of  the  Administration.  Indeed,  from  the 
nature  of  them  it  cannot  be  otherwise." 

While  in  Louisville,  November  2jth — the  very  day 
the  people  in  the  East  read  the  Proclamation  of  the 
President  against  the  conspiracy,  and  New  Orleans 
felt  the  presence  of  James  Wilkinson — Burr  heard  that 
Daviess  had  renewed  his  motion  against  him.  Burr 
immediately  wrote  Clay  to  come  to  his  assistance,2  and 
himself  started  for  Frankfort.  Tuesday,  November 
25th,  the  district-attorney  had  in  fact  appeared  before 
the  Federal  court  to  renew  his  motion  for  a  grand  jury 
to  inquire  into  the  conduct  of  Aaron  Burr.  The  request 

1  Clark's  Proofs,  Ap.,  p.  17. 

*  Colton's  Private  Correspondence  of  Henry  Clay,  p.  13. 


TWO  KENTUCKY  ARRAIGNMENTS    185 

was  readily  granted  and  the  marshal  was  ordered  to 
have  the  jury  summoned  for  the  session  of  the  next 
Tuesday.  Subpoenas  were  issued  for  witnesses,  and 
all  was  made  ready  for  the  trial.1  Burr  reached  Frank 
fort  Sunday,  the  thirtieth,  and  the  next  morning  sent 
Clay  a  categorical  denial  of  the  rumors  in  circulation 
concerning  his  project  :2 — 

"I  have  no  design,  nor  have  I  taken  any  measure,  to 
promote  a  dissolution  of  the  Union,  or  a  separation  of  any 
one  or  more  States  from  the  residue.  ...  I  do  not 
own  a  musket  nor  a  bayonet,  nor  any  single  article  of  mili 
tary  stores,  nor  does  any  person  for  me,  by  my  authority 
or  with  my  knowledge.  .  .  .  Considering  the  high 
station  you  now  fill  in  our  national  councils,  I  have 
thought  these  explanations  proper,  as  well  to  counteract 
the  chimerical  tales,  which  malevolent  persons  have  so 
industriously  circulated,  as  to  satisfy  you  that  you  have 
not  espoused  the  cause  of  a  man  in  any  way  unfriendly  to 
the  laws,  the  government,  or  the  interests  of  his  country." 

Once  more  Henry  Clay,  the  great  nationalist  leader 
— the  eloquent  arraigner  of  Great  Britain  in  1812,  the 
author  of  the  Compromise  Measures  of  1850 — re 
sponded  to  Burr's  call.  It  was  his  honest  belief  that 
Burr  was  innocent,  that  enemies  were  pursuing  him 
with  malice ;  and  his  opinion  was  not  changed  until  he 
read  Jefferson's  report  to  Congress,  which,  together 
with  the  Proclamation,  produced  in  the  public  mind  an 
incontestable  belief  in  Burr's  guilt.  Clay  wrote  from 
Washington,  February  i,  1807,  to  his  father-in-law, 
Colonel  Thomas  Hart  :3— 

^Palladium,  November  27,  1806. 
2Prentice's  Henry  Clay,  p.  32. 

8Henry  Clay  to  Colonel  Thomas  Hart,  February  I,  1807; 
Clay  MSS. 


1 86  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

"It  seems  that  we  have  been  much  mistaken  about 
Burr.  When  I  left  Kentucky,  I  believed  him  both  an 
innocent  and  persecuted  man.  In  the  course  of  my  jour 
ney  to  this  place,  still  entertaining  that  opinion,  I  ex 
pressed  myself  without  reserve,  and  it  seems  owing  to 
the  freedom  of  my  sentiments  at  Chillicothe  I  have 
exposed  myself  to  the  strictures  of  some  anonymous 
writer  of  that  place.  They  give  me  no  uneasiness,  as  I 
am  sensible  that  all  my  friends  and  acquaintances  know 
me  incapable  of  entering  into  the  views  of  Burr.  It 
appears  from  the  President's  message  to  Congress,  in 
answer  to  the  resolution  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
calling  for  information,  that  Burr  had  formed  the  no  less 
daring  projects  than  to  reduce  New  Orleans,  subjugate 
Mexico,  and  divide  the  Union/' 

Every  act  of  Clay's  splendid  career  protests  against 
the  statement  which  we  find  too  often  made  that  he, 
like  Smith  and  Jackson,  sought  only  a  cover  for  his 
credulity.  Some  have  written  only  too  clearly  that 
that  satisfied  he  had  no  scruple  against  appearing  in 
court  in  order  to  thwart  a  process  of  justice  and  to 
preserve  a  traitor. 

December  2d  court  met  pursuant  to  adjournment. 
Judge  Innes  read  his  charge  to  the  grand  jury  in  due 
form  and  with  emphasis  as  to  the  necessity  for  a  rigid 
investigation  to  be  made  into  the  conduct  of  certain 
revolutionary  characters.  The  same  day  the  jury  filed 
back  into  court  to  say  that  they  had  no  presentments 
to  make,  and  that  the  district-attorney  had  preferred  no 
indictments  to  them.  Daviess  then  moved  that  the 
grand  jury  be  adjourned  until  ten  o'clock  on  the  fol 
lowing  day  when  he  would  file  indictments.  He  took 
occasion  to  say  that  "Burr's  presence  was  not  required 
and  that  it  appeared  rather  ostentatious  than  useful  or 


TWO  KENTUCKY  ARRAIGNMENTS    187 

proper."  Clay  and  Allen,  acting  for  the  defendant, 
replied  that  the  grand  jury  after  being  sworn  and 
charged  could  meet  when  it  pleased,  and  retorted  that 
the  presence  of  their  client  in  court  was  entirely  proper. 

Wednesday,  when  court  had  been  called,  Daviess 
presented  a  paper  to  the  foreman,  saying,  "This  is  an 
indictment  against  Senator  John  Adair."  He  next  in 
sisted  before  the  court  that  he  should  have  the  right  to 
go  before  the  grand  jury  to  question  the  witnesses.  This 
contention  involved  a  fundamental  principle  in  the 
practice  of  the  courts  and  provoked  a  heated  discussion, 
Clay  and  Allen  denying  the  existence  of  such  a  right. 
They  argued  that  if  the  prosecution  were  correct,  then 
must  the  defense  also  have  representation ;  and  that  the 
logic  of  this  meant  the  conversion  of  the  grand  jury 
into  a  trial  court.  Daviess  at  once  accused  Burr  of 
wishing  to  thwart  the  examination.  Burr  replied  that 
when  he  had  first  heard  that  a  charge  was  about  to  be 
exhibited  against  him  he  had  hastened  to  present  him 
self  before  the  court;  that  now  a  second  time  he  had 
appeared  without  compulsory  process,  and  that  he  had 
even  aided  the  prosecutor  in  procuring  witnesses;  he 
desired  an  investigation  and  hoped  that  it  would  be 
satisfactory,  but  trusted  that  it  would  be  conducted 
according  to  the  established  rules  of  law.  Judge  Innes 
decided  that  the  contention  of  the  prosecution  was  un 
founded. 

Thursday  Daviess  remarked  that  he  had  prepared 
some  special  sets  of  questions  which  he  desired  the 
grand  jury  to  use  in  the  examination  of  certain  wit 
nesses.  To  this  request,  though  somewhat  irregular, 


1 88  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

both  Burr  and  Adair  readily  assented.  Then  the  in 
quiry  proceeded,  but  the  suspense  was  not  of  long 
duration ;  the  jury  soon  reported  the  indictment  against 
John  Adair,  "Not  a  true  bill."  The  substance  of  the 
indictment  read  that  August  i,  1806,  John  Adair  of 
Mercer  County  did  arm  and  set  on  foot  an  unlawful 
expedition  against  the  Spanish  Kingdom  of  Mexico, 
against  the  peace  and  dignity  of  the  United  States.  It 
I  is  interesting  to  find  that  no  reference  is  made  to  a 
project  to  revolutionize  the  States  west  of  the  Alle- 
ghanies.  When  the  report  of  the  foreman  had  been 
registered,  Daviess  formally  preferred  an  indictment 
against  Aaron  Burr : 

"United  States  of  America,  Kentucky  District,  to  wit : 
The  grand  jury  of  the  United  States  in  and  for  the  body 
of  the  said  district,  do  on  their  oaths  present,  that  a  cer 
tain  Aaron  Burr,  late  of  the  city  of  New  York  and  vice- 
president  of  the  United  States,  did  with  force  and  arms 
at  the  county  of  Fayette  in  said  district,  on  the  25th  day 
of  November  last  past  wilfully  and  unlawfully,  and  from 
evil  premeditation,  then  and  there  set  on  foot  and  prepare 
for  a  military  expedition  against  the  dominions  of  the 
King  of  Spain,  who  is  an  European  friend,  at  peace  with 
the  said  United  States,  to  wit  against  the  provinces  of 
said  King,  in  North  America  contrary  to  the  laws  of  the 
United  States  in  such  cases  provided,  and  against  the 
peace  and  dignity  thereof." 

Thus  ran  the  first  count  in  the  indictment;  there 
was  another  which  alleged  that  on  the  day  in  question 
in  the  county  of  Jefferson  a  similar  misdemeanor  had 
been  committed.  No  mention  was  made  of  treason  in 
the  indictment,  though  strangely  enough  Wilkinson 
had  already  begun  his  tales  of  treason  in  New  Orleans, 
while  Jefferson  at  Washington,  through  the  General's 


TWO  KENTUCKY  ARRAIGNMENTS    189 

confidential  communications,  had  been  led  to  denounce 
in  unqualified  terms  the  threatening  combinations 
forming  on  the  Ohio.  Though  Daviess  had  not  ven 
tured  to  charge  Burr  with  treasonable  practice,  he  had 
taken  occasion  to  assert  in  court  that  such  was  also  in 
contemplation.  Therefore,  Friday  brought  intense  ex 
citement.  The  town  of  Frankfort  was  crowded  with 
people  who  had  come  to  attend  the  trial  and  to  see  the 
celebrities.  Everywhere  the  conspiracy  was  the  all- 
engrossing  subject;  but  there  were  few  who  believed 
with  Daviess  that  a  terrible  calamity  was  impending. 
Early  in  the  day  attention  became  centred  in  the  action 
of  the  grand  jury.  Who  were  the  witnesses?  What 
would  be  the  nature  of  the  indictment?  Excitement 
rose  to  a  high  pitch  when  witnesses  were  sent  for  whose 
names  the  ardent  prosecutor  for  some  reason  best 
known  to  himself  had  failed  to  submit,  notably  Street 
and  Wood.  For  months  these  editors  had  stirred  the 
country  with  their  versions  of  the  Spanish  Association 
and  Blount's  Enterprise,  and  had  gone  so  far  as  to 
issue  an  address  to  the  people : 

"The  editors  of  this  paper  are  called  on  by  William 
Littell  and  certain  of  the  amiable  youth  of  Frankfort,  to 
produce  proofs  of  what  they  allege  about  the  conspira 
tors.  Fellow  citizens  we  will  do  no  such  thing.  .  .  . 
If  you  will  sue  us  for  slander,  we  will  plead  justification. 
We  will  go  into  no  paper  war  about  it  with  William  Littell, 
William  Hunter,  the  two  constellations  of  prostitution; 
or  any  of  your  hirelings.  We  will  publish  your  guilt  in 
print ;  but  we  will  enter  into  no  dispute  with  any  of  you 
about  it  in  print.  And  our  Federalist  friends  have  point 
edly  advised  us  by  no  means  to  suffer. any  of  our  evidence 
to  be  made  known  before  it  is  called  for  in  court."1 

^•Lexington  Gazette,  September  8,  1806. 


190  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

Daviess  and  Marshall  were  doubtless  the  Federalist 
friends  and  advisers  who  feared  an  inopportune  ex 
posure  of  the  testimony ;  and  it  is  therefore  all  the  more 
inexplicable  why  the  patriotic  Daviess  chose  to  let 
another  occasion  pass  without  giving  the  conspiracy  a 
thorough  airing.  Moreover  there  had  recently  ap 
peared  in  the  World  a  statement  of  the  utmost  import 
now  that  Burr  was  accused  and  the  editors  were  to 
testify.  The  people  remembered  having  read  a  declara 
tion  to  the  effect  that  the  editors  were  intimately  in 
formed  of  all  Colonel  Burr's  projects,  which,  at  the 
proper  time,  they  would  lay  before  the  public  i1— 

"No  set  of  men  are  held  in  greater  abhorrence,"  began 
the  audacious  paragraph,  "than  the  leaders  of  the  Feder 
alist  and  Burr  factions,  or  any  faction  whatever.  There 
are  Burrites,  however,  in  the  state  of  Kentucky,  and  we 
know  them,  but  happily  they  are  only  to  be  found  among 
the  conspirators  we  are  now  exposing.  We  were  well 
acquainted  with  the  object  of  Colonel  Burr's  visit  to  the 
state  of  Kentucky  before  he  left  the  city  of  Washington. 
We  know  the  proceedings  of  his  agents  in  this  state,  at 
Orleans  and  at  St.  Louis ;  we  are  perfectly  informed 
of  the  nature  of  his  contract  with  General  Wilkinson,  as 
likewise  the  articles  agreed  to  at  Frankfort  between  him 
and  Mr.  John  Brown.  But  these  will  be  detailed  in  the 
concluding  part  of  our  narrative." 

The  grand  jury  deemed  this  a  very  proper  occasion 
for  the  disclosure  of  the  "narrative,"  and  the  crowd, 
eager  and  impatient,  awaited  its  report.  No  one  knew 
what  testimony  the  implacable  editors  of  the  turbulent 
sheet  might  bring  into  court.  Street  was  first  called 
and,  astonishing  as  it  may  seem,  upon  oath  declared 

^Western  World,  July  12,  1806;  Palladium,  December  11,1806. 

S 


TWO  KENTUCKY  ARRAIGNMENTS    191 

that  he  could  give  no  information  relative  to  the 
charges  set  forth ;  that  his  knowledge  had  been  derived 
wholly  from  hearsay ;  that  he  knew  no  one  who  could 
testify  in  the  case!  The  jury  had  called  for  a  file  of 
the  Western  World,  and  when  John  Wood  was  intro 
duced  he  was  asked  questions  based  upon  paragraphs 
he  had  himself  written.  According  to  his  own  con 
fession  in  A  Full  Statement  he  was  obliged  to  admit 
the  falsity  of  the  charges  as  well  as  the  unfounded 
slanders  which  had  been  uttered.1  Indeed  he  made 
bold  to  say  that  for  some  time  he  had  been  changing 
his  mind  concerning  Burr,  finishing  with  the  amazing 
statement  that  he  was  persuaded  Burr  had  no  inten 
tions  which  antagonized  the  laws  and  interests  of  the 
United  States  !2  Such  an  admission  was  a  fitting  close 
to  the  investigations  of  the  grand  jury.  The  two  men 
in  the  Western  country  who  pretended  to  know  all  that 
was  necessary  to  establish  guilt,  had  attested  on  their 
oaths  that  they  knew  nothing.  The  other  witnesses 
were  in  no  better  plight;  so  the  jury  filed  in  at  two 
o'clock  and  returned  the  indictment — "Not  a  true  bill." 
Their  labors  were  not  ended,  however;  they  felt  that 
the  prevailing  excitement  warranted  their  issuing  a 
statement :' — 

"The  grand  jury  is  happy  to  inform  the  court  that  no 
violent  disturbance  of  the  public  tranquillity,  or  breach  of 
laws  has  come  to  their  knowledge.  We  have  no  hesita 
tion  in  declaring,  that  having,  carefully  examined  and 
scrutinized  all  testimony  which  has  come  before  us,  as 

*A  Full  Statement  of  the  Trial  and  Acquittal  of  Aaron  Burr 
by  John  Wood,  p.  24  (Alexandria,  1807). 

^Palladium,  December  11,  1806.    A  Full  Statement,  p.  35- 
"Palladium,  December  11,  1806. 


192  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

well  on  the  charges  against  Burr,  as  those  contained  in  the 
indictment  preferred  to  us  against  John  Adair,  that  there 
has  been  no  testimony  before  us  which  does  in  the  smallest 
degree  criminate  the  conduct  of  either  of  those  persons  ; 
nor  can  we,  from  all  the  inquiries  and  investigation  of  the 
subject,  discover  that  anything  improper  or  injurious  to 
the  interest  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  or 
contrary  to  the  laws  thereof,  is  designed  or  contemplated 
by  either  of  them." 

When  the  foreman,  Abraham  Kite,  had  finished  the 
reading  of  the  special  report,  the  district-attorney  said 
that  there  was  nothing  further,  and  thereupon  the  jury 
was  dismissed.  It  was  an  agonizing  moment  for 
Daviess  and  his  advisers  —  it  was  a  fate  too  well  de 
served.  Again  Burr  had  been  vindicated;  once  more 
the  people  applauded,  and  to  show  their  apprecia 
tion  they  gave  a  grand  ball  in  his  honor.  Daviess  and 
his  party  attempted  a  counter  fete  which  was  a  total 
failure.1  As  the  report  of  the  miserable  fiasco  of 
Daviess's  accusation  spread  abroad  the  Westerners 
were  reassured  of  the  innocence  of  Burr's  designs  as 
respected  the  Union,  but  in  some  circles  the  result  was 
accepted  as  proof  of  an  illicit  alliance  between  the  con 
spirator  and  the  people.  To  Jefferson  it  appeared  that 
Burr  owed  his  liberation  to  want  of  discretion  and 


L 


details  of  the  second  trial  have  been  presented  in  the 
belief  that  they  were  necessary  to  the  rational  study  of  the  con 
spiracy.  Another  reason  also  appears  —  it  affords  an  opportunity 
for  drawing  a  sharp  parallel  between  contemporary  writing  and 
generally  accepted  conclusions.  Henry  Adams  (iii.,  282)  says 
concerning  the  second  arraignment  of  Burr,  "A  second  time  the 
scene  of  outraged  virtue  was  acted.  Once  more  the  witnesses 
vanished.  Senator  Smith  saddled  his  horse  and  fled;  Adair 
would  not  appear;  and  the  judge  lent  his  weight  to  the  criminal. 
.  .  .  Burr  was  discharged  with  enthusiastic  applause,  with 
out  a  stain  on  his  character."  McMaster  (iii.,  69)  closely  follows 
Adams. 


TWO  KENTUCKY  ARRAIGNMENTS    193 

talent  in  Daviess,  and  the  latter  was  accordingly  re 
moved  from  office.  At  the  moment  Burr — "for  whose 
honor  and  innocence,"  Clay  said,  "he  could  pledge  his 
own," — felt  the  full  tide  of  public  favor,  a  tide  which 
had  already  started  on  its  receding  course.  That  Burr 
was  guilty  of  treasonable  practices  was  not  believed  by 
the  people  of  Kentucky;  but  that  he  meditated  an  en 
terprise  against  the  dominions  of  a  neighboring  Prince, 
based  on  the  contingency  of  a  war,  was  asserted  un 
hesitatingly.  To  prepare  for  an  emergency,  which  was 
deemed  unavoidable  was  no  offense.  Indeed,  war  was 
scarcely  thought  necessary  to  give  license  to  the  in 
vasion  of  so  afflicted  a  land  as  Mexico.  Six  years 
later  there  were  half  a  thousand  Westerners  who  main 
tained  so  stoutly  this  belief  that  the  hold  of  the  Latin 
race  on  the  great  empire  of  Texas  was  loosed  never  to 
be  regained.  Amid  all  the  rumors  and  accusations  the 
people  of  the  West  were  Burr's  steadfast  friends, 
never  wavering  under  the  charges  of  the  Western 
World,  never  heeding  the  danger  signals  of  Daviess 
and  Marshall.  Not  till  the  appearance  of  the  Presi 
dent's  Proclamation  was  the  uprightness  of  Burr's  mo 
tives  questioned.  That  transformation  scene  is  without 
a  parallel  in  our  history ! 

After  the  Cabinet  meeting  at  the  end  of  October, 
Jefferson  took  no  further  notice  of  the  conspiracy  until 
Wilkinson's  startling  letters  of  October — written  at  the 
moment  the  resolution  was  taken  to  dispatch  Graham 
on  Burr's  trail — were  received.  However,  the  Presi 
dent  had  had  more  than  one  warning.  Duane,  editor 
of  the  Aurora  and  national  political  factor,  counseled 


194  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

him  as  early  as  November  4th  to  take  some  step  to 
counteract  the  public  alarm.  Rumors  were  in  circula 
tion,  he  said,  of  dangerous  disturbances  in  Kentucky.1 

"It  might  be  of  some  importance,"  he  suggested,  "by 
some  means  to  settle  the  public  feeling  on  the  subject. 
The  whole  country  will  be  with  you  if  there  is  any  actual 
emergency.  If  there  is  not,  the  Administration  may  de 
rive  great  advantage  from  a  seasonable  counteraction  of 
the  alarm." 

With  Jefferson  the  season  for  allaying  the  alarm 
was  slow  in  arriving.  Yet  all  the  while — apart  from 
the  newspapers — he  had  notices  of  the  brewing  storm. 
Five  days  later  than  Duane,  Caesar  A.  Rodney,  who 
was  shortly  to  become  Attorney-General,  uttered  his 
suspicions  :* — 

"The  aspect  of  affairs  to  the  westward,"  said  he  to  the 
President,  "is  still  unpleasant.  The  Spaniards  give  us 
most  uneasiness,  thQugh  rumors  on  the  subject  of  some 
secret  conspiracy  increase  the  public  anxiety.  I  cannot 
give  credence  to  these  vague  reports,  nor  can  I  believe 
there  is  a  desperado  in  the  United  States  capable  of 
attempting  the  mad  project  of  revolutionizing  the  West 
ern  states." 

The  President's  view  of  the  enterprise  at  that  date 
was  truly  very  singular.  He  simply  said  in  reply 
to  Duane,  November  24th,  the  day  before  Wilkinson's 
special  messenger  galloped  into  Washington:  "In  the 
western  quarter  great  things  have  been  meditated ;  but 
they  will  probably  end  in  an  attempt  upon  the  public 
lands,  and  the  question  will  be  whether  we  have  author 
ity  legally  to  oppose  them  with  force."3 

*Duane  to  Jefferson,  November  4,  1806;  Jefferson  MSS. 
'Rodney  to  Jefferson,  November  q,  1806;  Jefferson  MSS. 
'Jefferson  to  Duane,  November  24,  1806 ;  Jefferson  MSS. 


TWO  KENTUCKY  ARRAIGNMENTS  195 

But  Jefferson's  opinion  was  suddenly  and  utterly 
changed  by  Wilkinson's  revelations,  which  were  de 
livered  November  25th  at  the  White  House.1  The 
Cabinet  was  summoned  in  haste.  The  record  of  its 
action  is  left  us  in  Jefferson's  hand  :2 

"November  25.  Present  at  first  the  four  heads  of  de 
partment,  but  after  a  while  Gen.  Dearborne  withdrew 
unwell.  Despatches  from  General  Wilkinson  to  myself 
of  October  21,  by  a  confidential  officer  (Lieutenant 
Smith)  show  that  overtures  have  been  made  to  him  which 
decide  that  the 'present  object  of  the  combination  is  an 
expedition  by  sea  against  Vera  Cruz ;  and  by  comparing 
the  contents  of  a  letter  from  Cowles  Meade  to  the  Secre 
tary  of  State,  with  the  information  from  Lieutenant  Smith 
that  a  Mr.  Swartwout  from  New  York,  brother  of  the 
late  marshal,  had  been  at  General  Wilkinson's  camp,  we 
are  satisfied  that  Swartwout  has  been  the  agent  through 
whom  overtures  have  been  made  to  Wilkinson.  We  came 
to  the  following  determinations  : — That  a  proclamation  be 
issued  (see  it),  and  that  orders  go  as  follows:  to  Pitts- 
burg,  if  we  have  a  military  officer  there,  write  to  him  to 
be  vigilant  in  order  to  discover  whether  there  are  any 
preparations  making,  or  boats,  or  arms,  or  other  military 
stores  or  means  providing  by  any  persons  against  whom 
there  is  reasonable  ground  to  suspect  that  they  have  in 
contemplation  a  military  enterprise  against  any  of  the 
territories  of  Spain  (contrary  to  the  statute,  June  5,  1794, 
c.  50)  ;  to  stop  all  bodies  of  armed  men  who  may  be 
assembled  to  descend  the  Ohio  under  circumstances  and 
appearances  so  different  from  those  of  common  emigrants 
as  to  induce  a  reasonable  suspicion  that  they  are  part  of 
a  combination  of  persons  believed  to  have  such  an  enter 
prise  in  view ;  to  have  them  bound  to  the  observance  of 
the  peace  and  good  behavior,  or  put  in  a  course  of  legal 
prosecution,  according  to  the  strength  of  the  evidence; 

*See  pp.  141-143- 

'Cabinet  Memoranda,  November  25,  1806;  Jefferson  MSS. 
Cf.  Adams,  iii.,  283. 


196    THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

and  for  this  purpose  to  call  in  the  aid  of  the  militia.  If 
we  have  no  officer  there,  then  write  to  General  Neville. — 
Marietta,  Mr.  Gallatin  is  to  write  to  the  collector  to  pro 
ceed  to  seize  the  gunboats  building  in  that  neighborhood 
and  suspected  to  be  destined  for  this  enterprise,  and  to 
call  in  the  aid  of  the  militia.  General  Dearborne  to  write 
to  Governor  Tiffin  to  furnish  a  guard  of  militia,  sufficient 
for  the  detention  of  the  boats;  and  to  write  to  General 
Jackson,  supposed  to  be  the  General  of  the  Brigade  on  the 
Virginia  side  of  the  river,  to  furnish  any  aid  of  militia 
which  may  be  necessary  from  the  left  bank  of  the  river. — 
Louisville,  General  Dearborne  to  write  to  the  Governor 
of  Kentucky  of  the  same  tenor  as  to  the  officer  at  Pitts- 
burg. — Massac,  General  Dearborne  to  give  orders  to 
Captain  Bissell  of  the  same  tenor,  and  particularly  to  stop 
armed  vessels  suspected  on  good  grounds  to  be  proceed 
ing  on  this  enterprise,  and  for  this  purpose  to  have  in 
readiness  any  boats  he  can  procure,  fitted  for  enabling 
him  to  arrest  their  passage ; — Chickasaw  Bluffs,  give 
same  orders  as  to  Bissell ; — Fort  Adams,  ditto ; — New 
Orleans,  General  Wilkinson  to  direct  the  stations  of  the 
armed  vessels,  and  if  the  arrangements  with  the  Span 
iards  will  permit  him  to  withdraw,  let  him  dispose  of  his 
force  as  he  thinks  best  to  prevent  any  such  expedition,  or 
any  attempt  on  New  Orleans  or  any  of  the  boats  or  mili 
tary  stores  of  the  United  States.  (He  is  also  to  arrest 
persons  coming  to  his  camp  and  proposing  a  concurrence 
in  any  such  enterprise,  or  suspected  of  being  in  camp 
with  a  view  to  propagate  such  propositions.  This  addition 
is  made  by  General  Dearborne  with  my  approbation.)" 

The  enforcement  of  these  resolutions  would  have 
left  no  vestige  of  the  conspiracy,  and  yet  the  key  to  the 
situation  was  in  the  hands  of  a  man  almost  universally 
distrusted.  Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  Wilkinson's 
conduct  had  been  questioned  in  Cabinet  council  and  that 
his  dispatches  were  obviously  double-faced,  the  Presi 
dent  was  ready  to  grant  him  the  power  he  was  to  as 
sume  on  his  own  account  in  the  Creole  City.  The 


TWO  KENTUCKY  ARRAIGNMENTS  197 

General  could  say  in  one  letter  that  the  expedition  was 
directed  against  Mexico;  in  a  second,  possibly  against 
the  States;  and  could  ask  to  be  so  empowered  that  he 
might  direct  the  combination,  even  though  traitorous, 
against  the  Spaniards — and  still  the  President  with 
stoical  blindness  failed  to  penetrate  the  deception — nay, 
contrariwise,  read  into  the  communications  an  hon 
est  denunciation !  Forthwith  the  forces  of  the  Govern 
ment  were  concentrated  in  an  effort  to  overcome  the 
dastardly  conspirators  on  the  strength  of  a  vague  ac 
cusation  by  the  chief  of  the  army  who  at  the  moment 
was  entering  New  Orleans  fresh  from  his  venal  Sabine 
campaign. 

The  day  after  the  Cabinet  session,,  orders  were  sent 
to  Marietta  to  post  one  hundred  and  fifty  or  two  hun 
dred  militia  on  the  river  to  prevent  the  passing  out  of 
Burr's  "gunboats."  On  the  twenty-seventh  Dearborn 
wrote  Wilkinson :  "You  will  use  every  exertion  in  your 
power  to  frustrate  and  effectually  prevent  any  enter 
prise  which  has  for  its  object,  directly  or  indirectly, 
any  hostile  act  on  any  part  of  the  territories  of  the 
United  States,  or  on  any  territories  of  the  King  of 
Spain."  Then  on  the  twenty-seventh  Jefferson  pub 
lished  his  Proclamation  which  was  to  contribute  more 
than  all  else  toward  the  annihilation  of  the  movement : 

"Whereas  information  has  been  received,"  ran  that 
notable  State  paper,  "that  sundry  persons  .  .  .  are 
conspiring  and  confederating  together  to  begin  .  .  . 
a  military  expedition  or  enterprise  against  the  dominions 
of  Spain;  that  for  this  purpose  they  are  fitting  out  and 
arming  vessels  in  the  western  waters  of  the  United 
States,  collecting  provisions,  arms,  and  military  stores, 


i98    THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

and  means ;  are  deceiving  and  seducing  honest  and  well- 
meaning  citizens,  under  various  pretenses,  to  engage  in 
their  criminal  enterprises;  are  organizing,  officering,  and 
arming  themselves  for  the  same,  contrary  to  the  laws  in 
such  cases  made  and  provided :  I  have  therefore  thought 
proper  to  issue  this,  my  proclamation,  warning  and  en 
joining  all  faithful  citizens  who  have  been  led  without 
due  knowledge  or  consideration  to  participate  in  the  said 
unlawful  enterprise  to  withdraw  from  the  same  without 
delay." 

Furthermore,  the  civil  and  military  officers  of  the 
United  States  and  the  faithful  citizens  were  enjoined 
to  be  vigilant  in  suppressing  the  expedition;  to  seize 
the  boats  and  arms,  to  give  "information  against  them 
to  the  proper  authorities" ;  to  bring  the  guilty  to  con 
dign  punishment.  Under  the  cover  of  this  Proclama 
tion  the  President  hoped  to  defeat  Burr,  be  his  scheme 
what  it  might;  and  it  seemed  from  Wilkinson's  dis 
patches  to  be  both  treasonable  and  filibustering.  But 
Jefferson  had  not  the  spirit  to  call  it  treasonable,  al 
though  there  lurked  in  the  urgent  language  an  ill-dis 
guised  reservation  which  the  public  at  once  interpreted 
as  fraught  with  sinister  meaning.  Erskine,  the  Brit 
ish  Minister,  discussed  the  Proclamation : 

"It  is  necessary  further  to  remark  upon  the  Proclama 
tion,"  he  wrote  to  Fox  December  4th,  "though  it  is  appar 
ently  leveled  against  sundry  persons  engaged  in  militarv 
and  unlawful  enterprises  against  Spain,  yet  that  it  is  also 
well  known  to  allude  to  supposed  conspiracies  to  effect  a 
separation  of  the  Western  States  from  the  rest  of  the 
Union,  and  which  Mr.  Burr  is  suspected  to  be  engaged  in 
forming.  .  .  .  Whether  it  will  turn  out  that  the  con 
spiracy  has  not  been  widely  spread  or  deeply  planned  the 
investigation  of  the  matter  which  will  shortly  take  place, 
as  Mr.  Burr  has  been  arraigned,  must  discover ;  but  it  is 


TWO  KENTUCKY  ARRAIGNMENTS    199 

not  reasonably  to  be  supposed  that  Mr.  Jefferson  who 
has  always  pursued  a  temporizing  line  of  conduct,  in 
domestic  politics  and  indeed  toward  all  foreign  nations 
except  Great  Britain,  should  have  adopted  such  strong 
measures  without  having  very  strong  proof  of  the  exist 
ence  of  such  conspiracies  and  of  the  importance  of  sup 
pressing  them/'1 

The  world  also  thought  that  the  President  possessed 
"strong  proofs"  and  believed  him  accordingly. 

"Some  weeks  ago  it  was  our  opinion,"  read  a  most 
significant  editorial  in  the  Lexington  Gazette  for  Decem 
ber  i  Qth,  "that  Burr's  designs  were  not  unfavorable  to 
the  interests  of  the  Union.  This  opinion  was  predicated 
upon  the  information  of  persons  whom  we  believed  to  be 
in  his  confidence,  and  from  a  belief  that  he  hnd  too  much 
sense  to  think  of  withdrawing  the  attachment  of  the  citi 
zens  of  the  Western  country  from  the  government  of 
their  choice.  Our  opinion  was  that  he  meditated  an  at 
tack  on  Mexico  by  the  authority  of  the  government 
9  should  a  war  take  place  with  Spain  of  which  there  ap 
peared  a  strong  probability.  To  this  opinion  we  thought 
it  improper  to  give  publicity  through  the  public  prints, 
in  as  much  as  it  might  convey  notice  to  the  Spaniards  of 
the  meditated  attack,  and  enable  them  to  prepare  to  repel 
it ;  but  we  never  hesitated  to  do  so  in  conversation.  How 
ever,  we  now  declare  that  opinion  changed  by  the  Presi 
dent's  Proclamation  and  Communication  to  Congress  and 
by  the  statement  of  General  Eaton." 

This  paragraph  written  large  well  expresses  the 
revulsion  which  took  place  in  the  Western  mind.  It  is 
equally  interesting  for  the  light  it  casts  upon  the  nature 
of  the  project.  Burr  had  not  been  gone  ten  days  from 
Lexington  where  he  had  been  the  most  courted  of  men 
and  where  had  been  the  rendezvous  of  the  conspirators, 

'Erskine  to  C  J.  Fox,  December  4,  1806;  MSS.  British 
Archives. 


200  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

when  this  summary  judgment  was  pronounced.  And 
his  very  friends  became  out-spoken  enemies.  Now  in 
very  fact  the  old  ghosts  of  Spanish  conspirators  and 
separatists  became  real,  living — threatening  to  waste 
the  land  with  fire  and  sword.  The  people  were  caught 
in  the  torrent  of  rumors  and  swept  farther  from  their 
moorings  than  at  any  other  period  in  the  history  of 
America.  From  east  to  west,  from  north  to  south  the 
country  rose  from  disquietude  to  panic ;  and  under  the 
influence  of  the  Proclamation  from  doubt  to  cer 
tainty  of  the  blackness  of  Burr's  designs !  But  wild  as 
the  excitement  became  in  Ohio  and  Kentucky  it  was 
the  unhappy  fate  of  New  Orleans  to  be  most  accursed ; 
for  it  was  there  that  the  arch-alarmist  of  the  century 
was  to  play  his  role  of  unmitigated  wrong. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

Wilkinson  in  New  Orleans. 


NOTWITHSTANDING  the  fact  that  Wilkin 
son  had  written  the  President  that  he  would 
leave  Natchez  for  New  Orleans  November 
1 4th,  and  that  the  emergency  demanded  hasty  action- 
busying  himself  with  Burling,  all  oblivious  of  the  gath 
ering  storm  which  he  had  avowed  would  shake  the  na 
tion  to  its  foundation — he  delayed,  only  reaching  the 
capital  of  Louisiana  the  twenty-fifth  of  November,  a 
month  and  a  half  after  he  had  had  notice  from  Burr  that 
his  expedition  was  ready  to  go  forward.  The  General's 
coming  was  regarded  with  the  gravest  concern.  The 
recent  crisis  on  the  frontier  had  been  and  was  the 
only  topic  of  conversation ;  and  now  that  labor  on  the 
fortifications  proceeded  with  redoubled  energy — forts 
reconstructed,  immense  amounts  of  lumber  and  pickets 
purchased,  and  a  street  blockaded — public  curiosity 
increased  to  an  alarming  degree.1  Meanwhile  Wilkin 
son  kept  his  own  counsel,  not  even  disclosing  his  pur 
pose  to  Claiborne  until  the  month  was  almost  run  out. 
The  Governor  at  once  fell  under  his  spell — stronger 
men  had  succumbed. 

December  ist,  Claiborne  wrote  Captain  Shaw,  who 
commanded  the  vessels  of  war  in  the  river,  "The  situa 
tion  of  affairs  here  is  critical  and  there  is  every  reason 
to  believe  that  the  safety  of  this  territory  is  seriously 

Orleans  Gazette,  March  31,  1807. 
201 


202  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

menaced."1  He  was  advised  to  hurry  the  preparations 
of  his  vessels  and  to  consult  with  Wilkinson  as  to  their 
disposition.  Three  days  later  the  Governor  informed 
Dearborn  that  the  General  was  picketing  in  the  city 
and  repairing  the  forts,  and  that  they  were  anxiously 
awaiting  the  troops  from  the  frontier ;  they  would  then 
have  a  force  of  eight  hundred,  exclusive  of  the  Orleans 
volunteers.2  Twenty-four  hours  later  he  sent  a  second 
letter  to  Washington  :— 

"If  General-  Wilkinson  is  not  greatly  mistaken,"  he 
confided  to  Madison,3  "the  safety  of  this  Territory  is 
seriously  menaced.  You  may,  however,  be  assured  that 
every  exertion  will  be  made  to  repel  the  advancing  foe. 
General  Wilkinson  tells  me  that  he  has  heretofore  re 
ceived  hints  of  a  Mexican  expedition,  and  from  the  char 
acters  who  it  seems  are  the  leaders  of  the  present  plot; 
but  had  attached  no  consequence  to  their  conversation, 
under  an  impression,  that  unless  sanctioned  by  the  gov 
ernment,  no  men  of  reputation  and  talents  could  seriously 
contemplate  an  object  of  the  kind.  General  Wilkinson 
will  doubtless  become  extremely  obnoxious  to  the  asso 
ciates  ;  but  his  fidelity  to  his  country  will  be  justly  appre 
ciated  by  the  good  and  virtuous." 

Claiborne  also  assured  the  Secretary  of  State  that 
the  greater  part  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  city  could  be 
depended  upon  to  render  assistance,  while  many  of 
those  to  the  west  of  the  Mississippi  would  die  for  their 
country. 

December  5th,  the  Governor  received  further  proof 
of  the  danger  to  which  the  country  was  exposed.  It 
was  a  communication  from  Andrew  Jackson  : 

"Journal,  p.  349- 

'Claiborne  to  Dearborn,  December  4,  1806;  Journal,  p.  350. 

'Claiborne  to  Madison,  December  5,  1806;  Journal,  p.  352. 


WILKINSON  IN  NEW  ORLEANS    203 

"Put  your  town  in  a  state  of  defense,"  said  he  to 
Claiborne.  "Organize  your  militia,  and  defend  your  city 
as  well  against  internal  enemies  as  external.  My  knowl 
edge  does  not  extend  so  far  as  to  authorize  me  to  go 
into  details,  but  I  fear  you  will  meet  with  an  attack  from 
quarters  you  do  not  at  present  expect.  Be  upon  the 
alert — keep  a  watchful  eye  on  our  General — and  beware 
of  an  attack  as  well  from  your  own  country  as  from 
Spain.  ...  I  fear  there  are  plans  on  foot  inimical  to 
the  Union — whether  they  will  be  attempted  to  be  carried 
into  effect  or  not,  1  cannot  say — but  rest  assured  they  are 
in  operation,  or  I  calculate  badly — beware  of  the  month 
of  December.  I  love  my  country  and  government — I  hate 
the  Dons — I  would  delight  to  see  Mexico  reduced;  but 
I  will  die  in  the  last  ditch  before  I  would  yield  a  foot 
to  the  Dons  or  see  the  Union  disunited."1 

Claiborne  afterwards  said  that  this  letter  had  re- 
enforced  in  his  mind  Wilkinson's  stories — which  was 
no  doubt  true.  But  it  did  not  raise  the  slightest  ques 
tion  as  to  the  honesty  of  the  General,  who  still  advised 
under  pain  of  disaster  the  closeting  of  the  secret.  That 
Claiborne  could  not  keep ;  he  exposed  the  whole  of  it  to 
Mayor  Watkins,  who  advised  the  immediate  dispatch 
ing  of  a  courier  to  the  various  Governors  of  the  West 
ern  States.2  Evidently  Claiborne  thought  of  acting  on 
this  advice,  for  we  find  in  his  Journal  (p.  352),  under 
date  of  December  5th,  the  following : 

"To  the  governors  of  Tennessee,  Kentucky,  Ohio,  and 
Indiana:  I  have  every  reason  to  believe  that  ah  armed 
association  is  forming  in  the  Western  country  under  the 
direction  of  Colonel  Aaron  Burr,  with  designs  hostile 
to  the  government,  laws  and  territories  of  the  United 
States.  I  give  you  this  information  in  full  confidence 

Jackson  to  Claiborne,  November  12,  1806;  Jackson  MSS. 
^Orleans  Gazette,  April  7,  1807. 


204  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

that  you  will  make  the  necessary  exertions  to  ascertain 
the  extent  of  his  lawless  combination  and  to  defeat  their 
wicked  machinations." 

It  is  probable  that  this  circular  letter  never  left  the 
office  of  the  Governor ;  at  least  no  trace  of  it  elsewhere 
has  been  found.  The  ensuing  day,  however,  he  sent 
J.  W.  Gurley  to  Cowles  Meade,  the  Secretary  and  Act 
ing-Governor  of  the  Mississippi  Territory,  with  a  verbal 
story  of  the  apprehended  trouble.1  Meade  replied 
calmly  that  his  mind  had  been  prepared  for  such  in 
telligence,  but  that  the  people  were  patriotic  and  that 
therefore  there  was  nothing  to  fear.2  Indeed  almost 
a  month  earlier  he  had  written  Claiborne  concerning 
the  conspiracy,  denouncing  Wilkinson  in  the  strongest 
terms  :8 — 

"It  is  believed  here,"  said  Meade,  "that  General  Wil 
kinson  is  the  soul  of  the  conspiracy,  and  a  requisition  late 
made  of  me  for  five  hundred  militia  has  confirmed  the 
suspicion  in  the  minds  of  many.  This  militia  was  re 
quired  to  defend,  or  protect  New  Orleans,  and  support 
the  laws  and  government  of  the  United  States.  Is  New 
Orleans  invaded?  Is  it  threatened?  Or  is  it  believed 
that  any  enemy  is  nearer  than  the  general  himself  ?  Gen 
eral  Wilkinson  is  concentrating  the  whole  military  force 
of  the  United  States  at  New  Orleans.  He  has  ordered 
down  the  troops  from  Natchitoches,  from  Fort  Stephens, 
and  Fort  Adams — this  last  fort  is  entirely  dismantled — 
all  the  ordnance  taken  away  for  New  Orleans  or  else 
where.  What  is  all  this  for?  Is  it  to  act  for  you  or 
against  you  ?" 

Thus  before  Burr  was  accused  the  second  time  in 

'Claiborne's  Journal,  p.  362. 
'Journal,  p.  385. 
•Journal,  p.  407. 


WILKINSON  IN  NEW  ORLEANS    205 

Kentucky,  before  the  Proclamation  had  been  inspired, 
before  the  General  had  made  his  way  into  the  Crescent 
City  the  people  of  Mississippi  felt  that  some  mysteri 
ous  danger  was  impending,  but  suspected  Wilkinson — 
with  whom  Burr  was  always  associated — of  being  at 
the  bottom  of  it.  It  is  perfectly  clear  that  Meade  had 
no  confidence  in  the  General,  while  he  expressed  his 
utmost  faith  in  the  virtue  and  loyalty  of  the  citizens. 
Because  of  his  distrust  in  the  one  case  and  confidence 
in  the  other,  he  was  accused  of  being  in  sympathy  with 
the  conspirators  by  Wilkinson  and  Governor  Williams 
of  Mississippi  and  dismissed  from  office.  Nevertheless, 
he  was  beyond  question  the  most  efficient  official  in  the 
West — and  therefore  could  expect  no  better  reward. 

By  the  sixth  of  December  Wilkinson  thought  the 
city  ready  for  a  step  forward.  As  yet,  indeed,  the 
inhabitants  knew  nothing  of  what  was  in  his  mind  and 
could  only  feel  that  his  urgent  preparations  betokened 
an  impending  calamity.  The  city  quaked  with  perturba 
tions  and  alarms.  On  the  day  in  point  Wilkinson  sent 
the  Governor  the  following  utterly  unconscionable  let 
ter,  calculated  to  unnerve  him  completely:1 — 

"The  dangers  which  impend  over  this  city,"  said  the 
General,  "and  menace  the  laws  and  government  of  the 
United  States,  from  an  unauthorized  and  formidable  as 
sociation  must  be  successfully  opposed  at  this  point,  or 
the  fair  fabric  of  our  independence  purchased  by  the  best 
blood  of  our  country  will  be  prostrated,  and  the  Goddess 
of  Liberty  will  take  her  flight  from  this  globe  forever. 
Under  circumstances  so  imperious,  extraordinary  meas 
ures  must  be  resorted  to  and  the  ordinary  form  of 

journal,  p.  359. 


206  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

civil  institutions  must  for  a  short  period  yield  to  the 
strong  arm  of  military  law.  Having  exposed  to  you 
without  reserve  the  authentic  grounds  on  which  I  found 
my  apprehensions,  you  can  readily  comprehend  the  high, 
solemn  and  important  considerations  by  which  I  am 
moved,  when  I  most  earnestly  entreat  you  to  proclaim 
martial  law  over  the  city,  its  ports  and  precincts.  For, 
unless  I  am  authorized  to  repress  the  seditious  and  arrest 
the  disaffected,  and  to  call  the  resources  of  the  place  into 
active  operation,  the  defects  of  my  force  may  expose  me 
to  be  overwhelmed  by  numbers,  and  the  cause  and  place 
will  be  lost/' 

He  also  combated  Claiborne's  suggestion  that  the 
militia  should  be  called  out  and  stationed  above  in  the 
Territory.  "You  could  not  for  a  moment  withstand 
the  desperation  and  superiority  of  numbers  opposed  to 
you  and  the  brigands,  provoked  by  the  opposition, 
might  resort  to  the  dreadful  expedient  of  exciting  a 
revolt  of  the  negroes." 

Fearing  the  effect  of  his  appeal  Wilkinson  rose  next 
morning  at  six  o'clock  to  reenforce  his  argument  i1 — 

"Captain  Shaw  informs  me  he  cannot  proceed  with  the 
river  defences  without  carpenters  and  sailors,  who  are  not 
to  be  had  but  by  requisition.  Proclaim  martial  law,  and 
this  with  many  other  evils  will  be  remedied.  On  this 
subject  in  the  present  eventful  moment,  I  must  entreat 
you  to  act  with  decision  ; — I  believe  I  have  been  betrayed, 
and  therefore  shall  abandon  the  idea  of  temporizing  or 
concealment,  the  moment  after  I  have  secured  two  persons 
now  in  this  city. — Our  measures  must  be  taken  with 
promptitude  and  decision,  regardless  of  other  conse 
quences  or  considerations  than  the  public  safety,  for  I 
apprehend  Burr  with  rebellious  bands  may  soon  be  at 
hand." 

'Journal,  p.  363. 


WILKINSON  IN  NEW  ORLEANS    207 

It  appears  that  he  deliberately  tried  to  frighten  Clai- 
borne  into  proclaiming  martial  law :  lack  of  carpenters, 
the  presence  of  enemies,  his  own  betrayal,  and  the  near 
ness  of  Burr's  "rebellious  bands."  But  the  Governor 
discovered  that  carpenters  could  be  had,  and,  in  the 
event  of  immediate  danger,  the  militia  of  Orleans  could 
be  called  out ;  while  the  matter  of  the  General's  betrayal 
seems  not  to  have  elicited  response  even  from  Clai- 
borne.1  It  is  apparent  that  he  was  not  fully  in  sym 
pathy  with  the  commander-in-chief  of  the  army,  for  he 
did  not  feel  martial  law  to  be  the  only  salvation. 

"Preparatory  to  the  declaration  of  martial  law/'  he 
wrote  Meade  on  the  eighth,2  "the  suspension  of  the  writ 
of  habeas  corpus  would  be  necessary;  but  this  high  pre 
rogative  can,  in  my  opinion,  be  alone  exercised  by  the 
territorial  legislature,  and  was  that  body  in  session  I 
should,  under  existing  circumstances,  advise  the  measure. 
As  to  martial  law,  I  shall  not  proclaim  it;  but  as  the 
danger  increases,  such  measures  will  from  time  to  time  be 
resorted  to,  as  the  general  safety  may  require." 

The  following  day  the  Governor  addressed  a  note 
in  French  to  the  commanders  of  the  militia  of  the  city 
saying  that  various  reasons  had  led  him  to  believe  that 
a  large  and  dangerous  body  of  men  were  to  descend  the 
Mississippi  and  imperil  the  city.  He  therefore  re 
quested  that  the  militia  be  made  ready  to  march;  that 
the  slaves  be  watched,  and  that  guards  be  mounted.8 
There  were  also  signs  of  weakening  in  his  attitude 
toward  delivering  the  city  over  to  the  military  power. 
He  wrote  Madison  that  he  was  well  assured  that  Burr 

journal,  p.  364. 
'Journal,  p.  365. 
'Journal,  p.  366. 


208  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

had  agents  in  the  city,  but  that  it  was  difficult  to  bring 
them  to  justice;  and  in  the  next  breath  he  took  up  the 
matter  of  the  habeas  corpus  i1 

"I  continue  to  think  that  the  power  of  suspending  the 
privilege  of  the  habeas  corpus  more  properly  devolves 
upon  the  legislature,  but  if  the  danger  should  augment 
and  the  privilege  of  the  habeas  corpus  should  by  impeding 
the  arrest  of  the  suspected  be  found  to  favor  the  escape 
of  the  guilty,  it  is  probable  that  I  shall  by  proclamation 
direct  the  suspension  thereof,  and  plead  in  justification 
the  necessity  of  the  case." 

The  ninth  of  December  is  memorable  by  reason 
of  the  seizure  of  the  Muskingum  flotilla  and  the  dis 
covery  of  the  secret  of  the  conspiracy  to  the  inhabitants 
of  New  Orleans.  At  the  request  of  Wilkinson  and  the 
Governor  the  members  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce 
met  at  the  Government  House.  The  assembly  was 
called  to  order  by  Paul  Lanusse,  Richard  Relf  acting 
as  secretary.  Claiborne  at  once  arose  and  stated  that 
they  had  been  convened  in  order  that  steps  might  be 
devised  to  defeat  Burr  who  was  about  to  attack  the  city. 
He  thought  that  money  ought  to  be  donated  for  the 
purpose  of  equipping  soldiers  and  sailors  to  man  the 
guns  on  land  and  water.  He  hoped,  he  said,  that  Cap 
tain  Shaw  would  be  at  once  reenforced.  When  the 
Governor  had  finished  the  General  took  up  the  theme, 
telling  of  the  plot  and  how  he  had  discovered  it;  re 
marking  that  his  knowledge  of  the  premeditated  expe 
dition  had  been  first  communicated  to  him  by  a  special 
messenger  of  the  conspirators  on  the  eighth  of  October, 
at  the  moment  he  was  preparing  to  proceed  to  the 

'Journal,  p.  367. 


WILKINSON  IN  NEW  ORLEANS    209 

Sabine.  The  object  of  making  him  acquainted  with 
the  plot  was  the  hope  of  his  cooperation  with  them; 
but  without  letting  the  messenger  know  his  determina 
tion  he  had  set  out  for  the  Sabine  where  he  settled 
the  boundary  controversy,  and  with  all  the  expedition 
in  his  power  had  repaired  to  New  Orleans  where  he 
intended  to  concentrate  his  forces  in  order  to  defend 
it  or  perish  in  its  ruins.  He  added  that  while  he  was 
at  Natchitoches  he  had  received  a  message  from  New 
Orleans  on  the  same  subject,  and  that  there  were  sev 
eral  persons  in  the  city  whom  he  knew  to  be  concerned 
in  the  plot.  These  he  would  have  arrested  long  since 
had  he  had  the  power.  His  object  in  coming  to  the  city 
was  to  prepare  it  for  defense;  but  the  subsequent 
advices  from  the  invaders  led  him  to  believe  that  their 
forces  would  be  greater  than  he  at  first  expected,  there 
fore  he  had  changed  his  plans  and  intended  if  possible 
to  attack  them  before  they  reached  New  Orleans.  He 
flattered  himself  that  if  they  could  succeed  in  manning 
the  flotilla  and  could  encounter  the  foe  above  Natchez 
they  might  be  forced  to  land  and  thus  be  annihilated. 
To  effect  this  object  it  was  necessary  that  there  should 
be  no  delay,  for  by  all  advices  the  enemy,  at  least 
2,000  strong,  were  to  arrive  at  Natchez  on  the  twentieth 
instant.  He  observed  that  the  leaders  of  the  plot  were 
supported  by  some  of  the  first  characters  of  the  Union ; 
that  their  primary  object  was  to  reduce  New  Orleans 
so  that  arms,  provisions,  and  boats  might  be  procured 
for  an  attack  on  Mexico,  which  was  to  proceed  both  by 
land  and  sea.  In  case  good  fortune  attended  the  enter 
prise  the  Western  States  were  then  to  be  separated  from 


210  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

the  Union.  To  give  efficiency  to  the  execution  of  the 
plot,  armed  but  disguised  vessels  were  to  come  into  the 
river  to  serve  as  convoy  for  the  expedition  which  was 
to  sail  from  thence  to  Vera  Cruz.  He  concluded  with 
pledging  his  life  in  the  defense  of  the  city  and  his  coun 
try.  The  Governor  and  General  thereupon  withdrew 
and  the  merchants  discussed  the  matters  which  had 
been  laid  before  them.  If  the  expedition  could  be  de 
feated  by  manning  the  war  vessels,  that  should  be  done. 
They  immediately  voted  an  embargo  and  agreed  to  re 
lease  any  sailor  of  their  merchantmen  who  desired  to 
enter  the  navy.1  Acting  under  this  agreement,  Clai- 
borne  at  once  instructed  Captain  Shaw  to  permit  no 
vessel  to  leave  port  without  orders  from  Wilkinson  or 
himself.2 

Now,  indeed,  so  far  as  the  public  was  concerned, 
the  screen  had  been  thrown  aside.  The  mystery  which 
had  surrounded  the  actions  of  the  General  had  been 
swept  away  in  a  gust  of  confidence.  The  reason  for 
the  hasty  construction  of  defenses  was  made  plain ;  but 
the  excitement  lessened,  for  it  is  a  truism  that  so  long 
as  a  thing  is  half  concealed  it  creates  the  greater  inter 
est.  One  naturally  asks  why  Wilkinson  spent  two 
weeks  in  New  Orleans  before  making  public  his  impor 
tant  information;  or  more  properly,  why  he  had  kept 
the  secret  for  two  months  from  the  people  whose  prop 
erties  were  to  be  sacrificed.  He  pretended  to  fear  that 
hostile  war  vessels,  both  English  and  American,  would 

Skiborne  to  Madison,  December  9,  1806;  Journal,  p.  306.  Or 
leans  Ganette.  December  9,  12,  and  March  31,  1807.  Gazeta  de 
Mexico,  January  17,  vol.  xiv.,  36. 

'Journal,  p.  388. 


WILKINSON  IN  NEW  ORLEANS    211 

come  up  the  river,  and  actually  sent  Lieutenant  Swan  to 
Jamaica  to  look  after  the  English  dispositions,  receiv 
ing  a  scornful  note  from  the  admiral  in  reply.  Notwith 
standing,  the  only  guard  stationed  at  the  mouth  of  the 
river  was  the  custom-house.  Wilkinson's  own  reasons 
for  his  silence  were  the  following : 

"I  represented  to  him  [James  Brown]  that  I  had  con 
cealed  my  intentions  from  the  double  view  of  preserving 
my  person  from  assassination,  and  to  keep  open  the  chan 
nels  of  communication  by  which  I  received  information 
of  their  secret  designs  and  movements,  and  that  the  con 
duct  of  the  emissaries,  I  added,  had  been  hitherto  so  cir 
cumspect,  as  to  put  it  out  of  my  power  to  convict  them  of 
any  overt  act  to  justify  their  commitment  without  bail."1 

His  silence  then  had  not  been  inspired  by  an  ardent 
desire  to  save  the  city,  which,  according  to  his  frequent 
letters,  was  menaced  from  within  and  from  without, 
but  to  save  himself  from  assassination  and  to  make  a 
case  against  those  unfortunates  who  had  once  plotted 
with  him  the  conquest  of  Mexico !  If  there  is  anything 
that  is  disgusting  it  is  Wilkinson's  sheepisrT  fear  of 
death.  He  spoke  of  it  elsewhere  in  one  of  his  famous 
letters  to  Jefferson.  But  fear  of  assassination,  which 
he  knew  he  probably  deserved  from  having  turned 
traitor  to  his  friends,  did  not  interfere  with  the  game 
he  was  playing  for  all  its  worth.  The  day  after  he 
had  paraded  before  the  merchants  he  wrote  Daniel 
Clark,  then  in  Washington  as  Territorial  delegate  from 
Orleans  :  — 

Statement  concerning  James  and  John  Brown,  December  6, 
1806;  Letters  in  Relation. 
'Clark's  Proofs,  Note  70. 


212  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

"I  refer  you  to  the  bearer,  Mr.  Donaldson,  for  the  in 
teresting  scenes  which  agitate  our  darling  city  and  poor 
devoted  Louisiana.  I  am  here  to  defend  her  against 
revolution  and  pillage  by  a  hand  I  have  loved.  Suspicion 
is  afloat,  and  numbers  are  implicated.  ...  By  the 
last  advice  Burr  expected  to  reach  Natchez  with  2,000 
men  the  2oth  instant.  If  he  brings"  no  more,  he  will  not 
dare  to  approach  this  place,  where  I  shall  to-morrow  have 
1,000  regular  troops;  and  your  Creoles  will  turn  out  with 
great  vivacity.  I  am  pushing  an  armed  flotilla  high  up 
the  river,  to  drive  the  revolutionists  on  shore,  and  save 
your  plantations  and  prevent  the  insurrection  of  your 
negroes." 

Strange  that  in  the  midst  of  such  perilous  times 
Wilkinson  could  write  reassuring  letters  as  to  his 
strength  and  the  loyalty  of  the  Creoles.  There  was, 
however,  ground  for  his  optimism.  Besides,  he  knew 
the  impossibility  of  such  a  body  of  men  being  trans 
ported  in  a  single  expedition  down  the  Mississippi,  for 
he  had  spent  weeks  arranging  for  the  removal  of  a 
twentieth  part  of  that  number  from  St.  Louis  to 
Fort  Adams.  Yet  he  pretended  that  a  private  individ 
ual  in  a  three-month  space  could  muster  and  embark 
an  army  of  from  two  to  eight  thousand  men  in  a  civi 
lized  community  for  the  purpose  of  sacking  a  city  of 
their  own  country!  Also  his  expression  of  confidence 
that  Burr  would  not  dare  to  approach  New  Orleans 
was  never  whispered  to  the  "darling  city  and  poor  de 
voted  Louisiana."  On  the  contrary  he  poured  constant 
alarms  into  the  too  willing  ears  of  the  Governor,  and 
deliberately  terrified  the  inhabitants. 

The  twelfth  he  wrote  Claiborne,  "For  heaven's 
sake  take  decisive  measures  to  raise  the  sailors  required 
by  Captain  Shaw — if  this  is  not  soon  done,  I  shall  be 


WILKINSON  IN  NEW  ORLEANS    213 

under  the  necessity  of  adopting  different  measures  and 
making  a  change  of  position  with  at  least  five  hundred 
of  the  troops."1  He  was  answered  immediately.  The 
General  was  asked  to  devise  some  scheme  whereby  the 
sailors  might  be  procured,  and  whether  he  thought 
impressment  ought  to  be  resorted  to.  Claiborne  con 
tinued  : 

"I  am  sincerely  desirous  to  cooperate  with  you  in  all  your 
measures.  Many  good  disposed  citizens  do  not  appear 
to  think  the  danger  considerable,  and  there  are  others  who 
(perhaps  from  wicked  intentions)  endeavor  to  turn  our 
preparations  into  ridicule ;  but  these  things  have  no  effect 
on  my  mind."2 

The  General's  air  of  blustering  seriousness  together 
with  his  preparations  became  in  due  time  the  laughing 
stock  of  the  populace;  and  he  realized  that  the  influence 
of  the  conservative  element  was  working  in  Claiborne, 
but  he  had  not  yet  despaired  of  winning  him  over.  In 
a  note  of  the  fifteenth  he  upbraided  the  Governor  for 
his  colorless  action  :3 — 

"Having  put  my  life  and  character  in  opposition  to  the 
flagitious  enterprise  of  one  of  the  ablest  men  of  our  coun 
try,  supported  by  a  crowd  of  co-equals,  ceremony  would 
be  unseasonable  and  punctilio  unprofitable;  I  therefore 
speak  from  my  heart  when  I  declare  £hat  I  verily  believe 
you  are  sincerely  desirous  to  cooperate  with  me  in  all  my 
measures;  but  pardon  the  honest  candor  which  circum 
stances  require  and  my  situation  demands,  when  I  observe 
that  with  the  most  upright  and  honest  intention  you  suffer 
yourself  to  be  unduly  biased  by  the  solicitations  of  the 
timid,  the  capricious  or  the  wicked  who  approach  you  and 

Wilkinson  to  Claiborne,  December  12,  1806;  Journal,  p.  371. 
2Claiborne  to  Wilkinson,  December  12,  1806;  Journal,  p.  372. 
3 Wilkinson  to  Claiborne,  December  15,  1806;  Journal,  p.  378. 


2i4  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

harass  you  with  their  criticisms  on  subjects  which  they  do 
not  understand,  and  their  opposition  to  measures  which 
they  do  not  comprehend,  or  which,  understanding,  they  are 
desirous  to  prevent  or  to  defeat.  What  will  our  alertness 
import,  without  force  and  energy  to  support  it  ?  And  can 
we  be  prepared  without  means  ?  Shall  our  reverence  for 
our  civil  institutions  produce  their  annihilation,  or  shall 
we  lose  the  house  because  we  will  not  break  the  windows  ?" 

The  merchants  were  among  the  first  to  ignore  Wil 
kinson's  alarms.  However  willing  they  appeared  at 
first  to  part  with  their  seamen,  they  spou  relented  and 
took  measures  to  retain  them.  This  act  of  confidence 
exasperated  Wilkinson,  who  retaliated  by  demanding 
of  Claiborne  the  impressment  of  the  sailors  for  six 
months.  The  latter  urged  that  two  months  was  time 
enough;  later  offering  to  compromise  by  making  the 
term  of  enlistment  expire  with  the  destruction  of  the 
lawless  banditti  from  the  Ohio.  But  the  General  replied 
that  in  his  "cool  and  deliberate  judgment"  and  from 
"his  knowledge  of  Burr's  character  and  desperation" 
and  from  "the  apparent  toleration  and  support  which 
he  receives  in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,"  we  have 
reached  an  extremity  in  public  affairs,  which  impe 
riously  demands  "the  momentary  dispensation  of  the 
ordinary  course  of  our  civil  institutions  to  preserve  the 
sanctuary  of  public  liberty."  The  seamen  should  be 
"compelled  to  serve  the  country  which  gave  them  birth 
and  gives  them  protection."1  Wilkinson's  purpose 
needs  no  elucidation.  But  after  the  first  wave  of  ex 
citement  had  spent  itself,  society  at  New  Orleans  as 
sumed  a  stolidity  upon  which  the  General's  alarms  beat 

^ayarre,  iv.,  167. 


WILKINSON  IN  NEW  ORLEANS    215 

in  vain.  Only  now  and  again  was  there  a  ripple  of 
excitement,  caused  by  some  startling  report  or  sudden 
usurpation. 

December  14,  1806 — Burr  and  Adair  were  riding 
into  Nashville — Wilkinson  began  that  series  of  rnilitary 
arrests  which  served  as  precedents  for  the  worst  of 
Reconstruction  times,  and  which,  when  causes  are  con 
sidered,  are  still  unparalleled.  On  his  own  authority,  l*^>t  A 
and  in  violent  conflict  with  the  civil  government,  he 
arrested  and  detained  whomsoever  he  pleased.  He  still 
urged,  however,  with  all  the  vehemence — which  at 
times  approached  insolence — he  could  command  that 
Claiborne  should  order  the  impressment  of  seamen, 
should  suspend  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  and  declare 
martial  law.  But  Claiborne  resolutely  refused  to  act 
in  the  premises,  or  to  implicate  himself  in  the  cases 
arising  from  the  military  seizures,  leaving  their  respon 
sibility  wholly  to  their  author.1  "The  judiciary  of  the 
territory,"  said  Claiborne,  plainly  condemning  the 
usurpation  of  the  functions  of  the  court,  "having  ex 
clusive  cognizance  of  offenses,  is  the  only  tribunal  to 
which  I  can  refer  you,  nor  can  any  acts  of  mine  arrest 
or  suspend  their  powers." 

Failing  to  protect  himself  with  the  mantle  of  the 
Governor's  proclamation,  Wilkinson  nevertheless  held 
straight  on  his  course.    Erick  Bollman — who  had  come, 
to  New  Orleans  by  sea  from   New  York,  and  with 
whom  the  General  had  had  some  interviews — Ogden, 
and  Swartwout  were  the  first  to  fall  under  his  ban,  the/ 
three  being  seized  the  same  day,  their  papers  confis- 

1  Journal,  p.  383- 


216  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

cated,  and  themselves  denied  the  privilege  of  counsel. 
Swartwout  and  Bollman  were  confined  aboard  ship  and 
within  four  and  twenty  hours  were  flying  under  full 
sail  toward  Washington,  in  the  custody  of  Lieutenant 
Wilson,  who  had  orders  to  permit  the  prisoners  no 
communications  save  with  commissioned  officers.  The 
suspects  were  consigned  to  the  President,  and  were  to 
be  held  in  safekeeping  till  his  wish  was  known.1 

These  arrests  precipitated  an  embittered  but  one 
sided  contest  with  the  courts.  On  the  afternoon  of  the 
fifteenth  Alexander  d'Avergne  sued  out  a  writ  of 
habeas  corpus  before  Judge  Sprigg  of  the  Superior 
Court  in  behalf  of  Bollman.  But  the  judge  would  not 
act  alone — Mathews,  his  associate,  was  absent — so  the 
matter  went  over  to  the  following  day,  when  a  writ  was 
obtained.  Writs  were  likewise  granted  by  James 
Workman,  judge  of  the  County  of  Orleans,  in  favor  of 
Ogden  and  Swartwout.  Return  was  made  the  next 
day  at  five  o'clock  by  Captain  Shaw,  who,  after  a  con 
sultation  with  Claiborne,  gave  over  Ogden — the  other 
two  were  not  in  his  keeping.  Ogden  was  brought  be 
fore  Judge  Workman,  but  no  evidence  being  offered 
against  him  he  was  discharged. 

Amid  the  excitement  attending  these  first  seizures, 
Claiborne  issued,  December  i6th,  a  proclamation2 
against  an  unlawful  combination  associated  for  the 
purpose  of  overthrowing  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  in  part  of  its  territory,  and  of  invading  the  King 
dom  of  New  Spain  with  which  we  were  at  peace.  He 

^Orleans  Gazette,  February  27,  1807. 

*Moniteur  de  la  Louisiane,  Number  677;  Orleans  Gasette, 
December  18,  1806. 


WILKINSON  IN  NEW  ORLEANS    217 

therein  warned  the  citizens  of  the  Territory  of  Orleans 
to  abstain  from  any  connection  whatever  with  the  asso 
ciates,  pointing  out  the  consequences  by  quoting  the 
Federal  statutes  which  provide  severe  penalties  for 
such  infractions  of  the  law. 

Wednesday,  the  seventeenth  of  December,  Wilkin 
son's  aide,  appearing  before  the  Superior  Court  to 
answer  the  writ  for  Bollman,  read  the  following  order 
over  the  General's  signature : 

"The  commander  of  the  army  of  the  United  States 
takes  on  himself  all  the  responsibility  which  may  result 
from  the  arrest  of  Erick  Bollman,  who  is  accused  of  being 
guilty  of  the  crime  of  treason  against  the  government 
and  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  and  I  have  taken  op 
portune  measures  to  warrant  his  safe  delivery  into  the 
hands  of  the  President.  General  Wilkinson  adopted  this 
precaution  only  after  many  conferences  with  the  governor 
and  two  judges  of  this  territory,  desiring  alone  to  secure 
the  nation  which  is  menaced  to  its  foundation  by  a  band  of 
traitors  associated  with  Aaron  Burr  whose  accomplices 
stretch  from  New  York  to  this  city.  .  .  .  Nobody 
holds  in  higher  regard  than  I,  the  civil  institutions  of  his 
country,  and  only  to  maintain  and  perpetuate  the  sacred 
attributes  of  the  Constitution  against  the  hands  of  daring 
violence  have  I  arrested  Bollman,  as  I  shall  arrest,  with 
out  respect  to  class  or  station,  all  those  against  whom  I 
have  positive  proof  of  being  accomplices  in  the  machina 
tions  against  the  state."1 

In  support  of  these  statements  the  General  sent  to 
the  court  a  paper  which  he  declared  to  be  a  copy  of 
Burr's  cipher  letter;2  also  some  notes  of  Dr.  Bollman, 
adding  that  other  important  discoveries  had  been  made, 

^Orleans  Gazette,  December  18,  1806.    Gazeta  de  Mexico,  xiv., 
40. 

'Sec  p.  74- 


218  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

but  that  the  time  was  inopportune  for  their  disclosure. 
Now,  too,  he  chose  to  send  the  President  a  copy  of 
Burr's  cipher  letter,  which  Jefferson  had  frequently  re 
quested.  In  the  same  communication  he  took  up  the 
matter  of  his  arrests,  the  news  of  which  he  had  already 
reported  :* — 

"Sir,  since  my  last  of  the  14  inst,  writs  of  habeas 
corpus  have  been  issued  for  the  bodies  of  Bollman,  Swart- 
wout  and  Ogden,  the  two  latter  by  Judge  Workman  who 
is  strongly  suspected  for  being  connected  with  Burr  in  his 
conspiracy,  as  I  have  proof  this  man  declared  some  time 
since  that  'the  republican  who  possesses  power  and  does 
not  employ  it  to  establish  a  despotism  is  a  fool.'  His  writ 
for  Ogden  was  served  on  Captain  Shaw  of  the  navy  who 
had  been  in  charge  at  my  request  on  board  the  Etna  bomb 
ketch.  He  delivered  him  up,  and  Mr.  Workman  has  dis 
charged  him  without  giving  me  a  word  of  information, 
although  he  knew  he  was  confined  by  my  order  for  a 
treasonable  combination  with  Burr,  and  Mr.  Ogden  now 
struts  at  large.  Swartwout,  I  have  sent  off  and  shall  so 
report,  holding  myself  ready  for  the  consequences.  Boll 
man  was  required  by  the  Superior  Court,  but  I  have  got 
rid  of  that  affair  also,  under  the  usual  liability  for  dam 
ages,  in  which  case  I  shall  look  to  our  country  for  pro 
tection." 

While  Wilkinson  was  thus  engaged  in  hedging, 
Shaw  and  Claiborne  appeared  at  headquarters  to  argue 
against  his  summary  military  arrests.  But  he  answered 
them  that  he  would  do  as  he  thought  best.2  It  fol 
lowed  that  Ogden  was  not  long  to  'strut  at  large/ 
Within  twenty-four  hours  he  was  again  arrested  along 
with  Mr.  Alexander,  and  the  two  were  escorted  over 
the  river  and  incarcerated.  A  week  later  they  were 

^National  Intelligencer,  January  23,  1807. 
'Journal,  p.  391. 


WILKINSON  IN  NEW  ORLEANS    219 

removed  to  Fort  Saint  Philip,  near  the  mouth  of  the 
Mississippi ;  and  two  days  afterwards  Alexander,  who 
was  never  shown  to  have  been  guilty  of  other  crime 
than  suing  out  writs  for  his  friends,1  was  forced  to 
sail  for  Washington  without  money  and  badly  pro 
vided  with  clothing,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that 
winter  was  raging/  Ignorant  of  the  whereabouts 
of  the  prisoner,  John  Williamson  and  Edward  Liv 
ingston  applied  to  Workman  for  writs.3  These  were 
granted  and  served  on  the  General  who  returned  at 
once  an  answer  as  complete  and  unappealable  as  Na 
poleon  could  have  given  :* 

"General  Wilkinson  requests  the  Honorable  Judge 
Workman  may  have  the  goodness  to  receive  the  general's 
answer  to  the  Superior  Court  of  the  Territory  in  the  case 
of  the  traitor  Bollman,  as  applicable  to  the  traitors  who 
are  the  subjects  of  this  writ." 

Livingston  thereupon  pressed  the  matter  in  order 
to  force  from  Wilkinson  a  "more  explicit  return  to  the 
writs,  or  shew  cause  why  an  attachment  should  not 
issue  against  him."5  The  question  was  now  put  to 
Claiborne  by  Judges  Hall,  Mathews,  and  Workman 
whether  he  would  assist  the  civil  authorities  against 
General  Wilkinson;  but  no  satisfaction  was  received, 
and  meantime  the  General  had  ignored  the  court's  de- 
better  of  Alexander,  Baltimore,  February  13,  1807;  Orleans 
Gazette,  April  17,  1807. 

2Letter  of  Alexander,  Washington,  February  9,  1807 ;  Orleans 
Gazette,  March  31,  1807. 

8"A  Letter"  (pamphlet  issued  by  James  Workman,  1807), 
p.  12. 

4"A  Letter,"  p.  14. 

"Martin's  History  of  Louisiana,  ii.,  281. 


220  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

crees.  Livingston,  therefore,  on  the  twenty-sixth 
moved  for  an  attachment  against  him.  The  General 
simply  unmasked  his  batteries: 

"The  undersigned,  commanding  the  armies  of  the 
United  States,  has  taken  upon  himself  the  responsibility 
of  arresting  Peter  V.  Ogden,  on  a  charge  of  misprision  of 
treason  against  the  government  and  laws  of  the  United 
States,  and  has  the  honor  to  inform  the  Honorable  James 
Workman,  judge  of  the  county  of  Orleans,  that  the  body 
of  the  said  Peter  V.  Ogden  is  not  in  his  power,  possession 
or  custody."1 

Judge  Workman  upon  the  receipt  of  this  ultimatum, 
for  the  third  time  appealed  to  Claiborne  to  know 
whether  he  meant  to  support  the  civil  government 
against  the  military.  He  explained  the  difficulties,  set 
ting  forth  that  Wilkinson  commanded  the  army  of  the 
United  States  and  also  a  large  part  of  the  militia  of 
the  Territory,  a  state  of  things  rendering  it  exceedingly 
delicate  as  well  as  dangerous  to  attempt  the  enforce 
ment  of  the  attachment  by  the  usual  method,  the  posse 
comitatus.  But  never  a  word  sent  Claiborne  in  reply. 
He  contented  himself  with  appealing  to  Wilkinson  to 
yield  to  the  civil  authorities.2  However,  the  advice 
was  no  more  heeded  than  Workman's  writs.  Jan 
uary  5,  1807,  the  judge  of  the  County  of  Orleans  sent 
his  last  unavailing  protest  to  the  Governor ;  then,  wait 
ing  a  week  for  a  reply,  he  took  the  only  step  left  open 
to  him: 

"Not  having  received,"  he  said  to  Claiborne,  "any 
answer  to  my  letter  to  your  excellency  of  the  fifth  instant, 

"'A  Letter,"  p.  14. 
'Gayarre,  iv.,  172. 


WILKINSON  IN  NEW  ORLEANS    221 

and  considering  your  silence  on  the  subject  of  it  as  a 
proof,  in  addition  to  those  that  previously  existed,  that 
your  excellency  not  only  declines  the  performance  of  your 
duties  as  chief  magistrate  of  this  territory,  but  actually 
supports  the  lawless  measures  of  its  oppressor,  I  have 
adjourned  the  court  of  the  County  of  Orleans  sine  die." 

Claiborne  never  flinched  under  this  stirring  reproof 
of  his  passivity; — by  his  failure  to  resist  the  en 
croachments  of  the  military  power,  to  support  the 
established  machinery  of  government,  he  gave  his 
assent  to  the  extraordinary  regime  the  General  had  seen 
fit  to  inaugurate.  The  city  was  in  fact  delivered  over 
to  Wilkinson.  Judge  Workman  no  longer  protested, 
but  grimly  resigned.1  In  his  own  justification  he  wrote 
to  the  Legislature  of  the  Territory  :2— 

"The  public  journals  have  announced  my  resignation 
as  judge  of  your  county.  I  offer  the  following  letters  and 
documents  to  your  notice,  anxious  to  prove  that  I  did  not 
quit  my  post  at  a  time  of  difficulty  and  peril,  for  any  other 
cause  than  the  failure  of  my  efforts  to  obtain  from  the 
executive  the  support  necessary  to  the  performance  of  my 
duties.  Every  possible  exertion  was  made  by  me,  but  in 
vain,  to  repress  the  usurped  power  that  subverted  and 
insulted  the  law." 

Wilkinson  early  decided  to  denounce  Workman, 
and  did  so  to  Jefferson;  to  Claiborne  he  averred,  "It 
pains  me  to  add,  but  it  is  my  duty  to  declare,  that  I 
have  the  strongest  grounds  for  believing  that  Judge 
Workman  has  been  deeply  and  actively  engaged  in 
these  nefarious  projects."3  To  Clark  he  wrote,  "Work- 

W'A  Letter,"  p.  14. 

'Orleans  Gazette,  April  10,  1807. 

"Wilkinson  to  Claiborne,  December  14,  1806;  Journal,  p.  427. 


222  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

man  and  Kerr  have  been  discovered  in  an  intrigue  to 
corrupt  the  army  and  to  plunder  the  bank."1  The  truth 
was  that  Wilkinson  had  learned  months  before  from 
Burr  that  Workman  was  enthusiastic  in  their  cause ;  it 
was  politic,  therefore,  to  compromise  him,  and,  giving 
out  these  rumors  as  his  excuse,  he  sent  a  patrol  to  seize 
the  judge,  likewise  Kerr ;  and  both  were  held  for  trial  at 
Natchez.  Editor  Bradford,  too,  of  the  Orleans  Gazette, 
was  arrested;  but  on  second  thought  the  General  had 
him  released.  Nevertheless,  the  fact  of  the  interference 
had  a  stifling  effect.  As  the  Augusta  Herald  face 
tiously  expressed  it,  'A  military  government  had  so  en 
tirely  superceded  the  civil  authorities,  a  printer  dared 
not  publish  a  political  paper  because  of  the  expense 
attached  to  a  northegi  voyage.'2 

At  high  noon,  January  I4th,  while  Burr  and  his  asso 
ciates  were  meeting  difficulties  at  Bayou  Pierre,  John 
Adair  of  Kentucky  rode  into  New  Orleans  and  estab 
lished  himself  at  Madame  Nourage's  boarding  house. 
A  contemporary  has  left  us  this  account  of  the  next 
act  :3— 

"January  14,  General  Adair  arrived  in  New  Orleans. 
This  gentleman,  it  was  reported,  was  to  hold  a  dignified 
position  in  Burr's  army.  He  made  his  entry  into  the  city 
about  one  o'clock  and  alone.  He  took  up  his  lodging  at 
a  public  boarding  house,  and  being  indispose'd  sent  a  mes 
sage  to  the  governor  to  inform  him  of  his  arrival  and 
requested  that  information  might  be  sent  General  Wilkin 
son  to  the  same  effect.  He  mentioned  that  he  left  Nash 
ville  December  22,  and  that  Burr  was  then  there  with 

Clark's  Proofs,  note  71. 
^Orleans  Gazette,  May  14,  1807. 
^Orleans  Gazette,  April  3,  1807. 


WILKINSON  IN  NEW  ORLEANS    223 

only  two  flatboats  destined  for  this  city.  He  had  been  in 
New  Orleans  but  once,  in  1800,  when  he  remained  but  a 
few  days  and  could  not  have  had  any  extensive  acquaint 
ance.  He  had  very  recently  occupied  a  very  high  govern 
mental  place  and  was  esteemed  greatly  for  his  talents  and 
bravery.  About  four  o'clock  on  the  same  day  of  his 
arrival,  while  at  dinner,  a  detachment  of  regular  troops, 
150  strong,  commanded  by  Lieutenant-Colonel  Kings- 
bury,  posted  themselves  before  the  door  of  the  hotel. 
Adair  was  violently  dragged  from  the  table,  paraded 
through  the  streets  to  the  gaze  of  the  people,  and  though 
sick,  was  committed  to  close  confinement  in  cold  barracks, 
and  denied  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus/' 

Adair,  too,  was  hurried  away  by  sea  on  the  charge 
of  being  an  accomplice  of  Burr.  As  late  as  February 
25th,  Lieutenant  Spence,  who  had  carried  messages  to 
Burr  in  Kentucky,  was  made  a  prisoner;  but  with  the 
arrest  of  Adair  came  the  climax  of  Wilkinson's  high 
handed  measures.  He  had  made  a  number  of  seizures, 
but  in  the  end  not  one  was  justified.  Their  conviction,  „ 
however,  was  a  matter  of  secondary  importance  com 
pared  with  the  attitude  Jefferson  might  assume  toward 
him;  and  that  that  attitude  might  be  favorable,  no 
effort  was  relaxed  to  prove  that  sincerity  and  un 
selfishness,  patriotism  and  honor  were  the  impelling 
springs  of  his  conduct.  As  a  given  set  of  circumstances, 
properly  correlated,  produce  an  event,  so  Jefferson's 
alliance  with  the  chief  of  the  army  was  inevitable.  It 
was  publicly  announced  in  the  Proclamation.  Hence 
forth  accusations  against  Wilkinson  were  reflections  on 
the  President.  It  was  therefore  obvious  that  the  Gen 
eral's  measures  for  the  defence  of  New  Orleans  would 


224  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

be  approved.  In  a  letter  of  February  3d  to  Wilkinson 
the  Executive  not  only  expressed  his  approbation  of 
them,  but  offered  suggestions  to  bridge  over  the  inex 
plicable  chasms  which  appeared  here  and  there. 

"Your  belief,"  he  said,  "that  Burr  would  really  de 
scend  with  six  or  seven  thousand  men  was  no  doubt 
founded  on  what  you  knew  of  the  numbers  which  could 
be  raised  in  the  Western  country  for  an  expedition  to 
Mexico,  under  the  authority  of  the  Government;  but  you 
probably  did  not  calculate  that  the  want  of  that  authority 
;  would  take  from  him  every  honest  man,  and  leave  him 
only  the  desperadoes  of  his  party,  which  in  no  part  of  the 
United  States  can  ever  be  a  numerous  body.  In  approv 
ing,  therefore,  as  we  do  approve  of  the  defensive  opera 
tions  for  New  Orleans,  we  are  obliged  to  estimate  them, 
not  according  to  our  own  view  of  the  danger,  but  to  place 
ourselves  in  your  situation,  and  only  with  your  infor 
mation."1 

V. 

Jefferson  spoke,  too,  approvingly  of  the  arrest  of 
Swartwout  and  Bollman  and  others,  but  Wilkinson  was 
warned  to  refrain  from  making  prisoners  of  those 
against  whom  there  was  no  proof  of  guilt.  The  same 
day  the  President  wrote  Claiborne,  grimly  predicting 
the  struggle  which  was  to  extend  beyond  the  precincts 
of  the  Capital  to  the  trial  at  Richmond — even  further 
still — a  struggle  in  which  strenuous  effort  was  made 
to  strangle  Thomas  Jefferson  with  the  soiled  hands  of 
Wilkinson  :2 — 

"The  Federalists  and  the  little  band  of  Quids  in  oppo 
sition  will  try  to  make  something  of  the  infringement  of 
liberty  by  the  military  arrest  and  deportation  of  citizens ; 

Jefferson  to  Wilkinson,  February  3,  1807;  Jefferson  MSS. 
'Jefferson  to  Claiborne,  February  3,  1807;  Jefferson  MSS. 


WILKINSON  IN  NEW  ORLEANS    225 

but  if  it  does  not  go  beyond  such  offenders  as  Swartwout, 
Bollman,  Burr,  Blennerhassett,  Tyler,  etc.,  they  will  be 
supported  by  the  public  approbation." 

New  Orleans  had  been  so  engrossed  with  the  mili 
tary  seizures  that  no  notice  had  been  taken  of  the  arm 
ing  of  the  war  vessels.  The  work  on  the  fortifications 
became  a  purely  perfunctory  employment  for  idle  sol 
diers,  while  in  the  midst  of  the  impending  dangers  the 
General  remembered  to  celebrate  the  day  on  which 
Louisiana  became  a  part  of  the  territory  of  the  United 
States.  The  loyalty  of  the  inhabitants  no  longer 
admitted  of  a  doubt,  for  by  the  end  of  December  there 
were  nine  hundred  men  completely  armed — indepen 
dent  of  volunteer  corps — and  ready  to  be  called  into 
active  service  at  a  moment's  notice.1  January  3d  those 
citizens  who  were  not  yet  members  of  any  military 
organization  solemnly  agreed  to  form  themselves  into 
such  an  association  for  "the  purpose  of  being  at  all 
times  ready  when  called  upon  by  the  constituted  autho 
rities  to  support  the  government  of  the  United  States." 
Their  reason  for  this  action  was  that  the  "existing  state 
of  our  public  affairs  leads  to  an  apprehension  of  our 
being  drawn  into  a  war  with  some  foreign  power."  2 
Just  then  it  must  have  been  singularly  displeasing  to 
Wilkinson  to  hear  Louisianians  talk  of  a  foreign  war, 
for,  although  he  had  written  Clark  that  the  Creoles 
would  turn  out  with  vivacity  in  defense  of  the  country, 
he  had  declared  to  the  world  that  New  Orleans  was  the 
hive  out  of  which  would  swarm  an  army  of  conspira- 

'Claiborne  to  Wilkinson,  December  29,  1806;  Journal,  p.  396- 
^Orleans  Gazette,  January  10,  1807. 


226  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

tors  to  follow  the  standard  of  Burr !    And  in  January, 
1807,  ne  spoke  again  of  their  factions  and  sedition  i1— 

"Cet  bete  [Claiborne]  is  at  present  up  to  the  chin  in 
folly  and  vanity,"  he  confided  to  Clark.  "He  cannot  be 
supported  much  longer;  for  Burr  or  no  Burr,  we  shall 
have  a  revolt,  if  he  is  not  removed  speedily.  The  moment 
Bonaparte  compromises  with  Great  Britain  will  be  the 
signal  for  a  general  rising  of  French  and  Spaniards,  and 
if  the  Americans  do  not  join,  they  will  not  oppose. 

Wilkinson's  political  prophecies  strikingly  recall  the 
auguries  of  Merry  and  Yrujo;  and  like  them  were 
equally  barren  of  probability  and  common  sense.  To 
hold  to-day  the  loyalty,  to-morrow  the  disloyalty  of  a 
city  which  remains  unchanged  was  a  feat  of  judgment- 
gymnastics  which  Wilkinson  accomplished  successfully. 
It  was  all  a  part  of  his  programme ;  and  because  of  his 
successes  his  conceit  knew  no  bounds.  He  could  now 
indulge  in  a  pleasantry  with  Clark  over  an  attack  made 
on  him  by  Livingston  which  only  excited  laughter — "so 
much  for  the  establishment,"  he  repeated,  "of  an  im 
proved  character." 

Although  Cowles  Meade  was  not  possessed  of  "an 
improved  character"  of  the  type  Wilkinson  could  boast, 
he  proved  not  less  patriotic ;  and,  while  keeping  watch 
over  the  Mississippi,  continued  to  warn  Claiborne  of 
the  General  :2 — 

"Should  he  [Burr]  pass  us,"  wrote  Meade  the  eve 
before  Christmas,  "your  fate  will  depend  on  the  general, 
not  on  the  colonel.  If  I  stop  Burr,  this  may  hold  the 
general  in  his  allegiance  to  the  United  States ;  but  if  Burr 
passes  this  territory  with  2,000  men,  I  have  no  doubt  but 

^Proofs,  Note  71. 

'Meade  to  Claiborne,  December  24,  1806;  Journal,  p.  387. 


WILKINSON  IN  NEW  ORLEANS    227 

the  general  will  be  your  worst  enemy.  Be  on  your  guard 
against  the  wily  general.  He  is  not  much  better  than 
Cataline — consider  him  a  traitor  and  act  as  if  certain 
thereof ;  you  may  save  yourself  by  it." 

Burr  never  passed ;  and  moreover  he  had  a  way  of 
procrastinating  which  was  likely  to  exhaust  the 
patience  of  very  patient  people.  The  embargo — which 
had  been  rigidly  enforced  in  Louisiana  since  December 
9th,  and  which  had  occasioned  extensive  losses  to  those 
engaged  in  commerce — at  the  urgent  petition  of  the 
merchants  was  raised  the  last  day  of  the  year.  Not  that 
vigilance  was  relaxed,  for  already  the  Aetna  and  two 
gunboats  were  guarding  the  approaches  to  the  city  from 
above,  while  by  the  end  of  December  the  ketch  Vesu 
vius,  the  schooner  Revenge  and  gun-barge  Number  2 
were  anchored  in  the  vicinity  of  Natchez.  They  were 
instructed  to  destroy  Burr's  flotilla.1  But  with  all  this 
protection,  and  despite  the  fact  that  Wilkinson  knew 
Burr's  only  means  of  transportation  lay  in  his  flat- 
boats,  which  were  also  his  vessels  of  war,  he  continued 
his  clamor.  Lieutenant  Carson  was  sent  to  Balize,  near 
the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  for  the  purpose  of  exam 
ining  the  cargoes  and  passengers  of  incoming  vessels,2 
while  already  there  were  in  force  stringent  regulations 
concerning  the  arrival  and  departure  of  ships  :* — 

"No  vessels,  boats,  barges,  rafts  or  flotillas,  containing 
cannons,  powder,  arms,  ammunition,  military  or  naval 
stores  of  any  description  whatever,  will  be  permitted  to 
ascend  the  Mississippi  without  passports  signed  by  Gov- 

'Claiborne  to  Shaw,  January  I,  1807;  Journal,  p.  398. 
2Claiborne  to  Captain  Johnson;  Journal,  p.  412. 
'Orleans  Gazette,  January  20,  1807. 


228  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

ernor  Claiborne.  Also  any  boat  containing  these  things 
descending  the  Mississippi  must  be  brought  before  Gov 
ernor  Claiborne  for  his  pleasure." 

January  6th,  the  Governor  called  on  the  farmers 
near  the  city  to  lend  him  for  a  few  days  one-tenth  of 
their  laboring  negroes,  so  that  he  might  be  enabled  to 
complete  the  fortifications.1  He  also  wrote  in  pretended 
uneasiness  to  Colonel  Bellechasse  :2 — 

"I  am  told,  Sir,  that  you  were  invited  to  take  part  in 
an  unauthorized  expedition  to  Mexico,  and  that,  as  a  pre 
liminary  measure  it  was  proposed  to  seize  upon  the  person 
of  the  present  governor  of  the  Territory  of  Orleans  and 
to  send  him  away  by  force — that  another  governor  should 
be  immediately  elected  by  the  people — and  that  you 
should  be  named  commander-in-chief  of  the  militia.  You 
are  a  member  Sir,  of  the  Council  of  the  Territory  and 
commander  of  the  First  Brigade  of  militia;  I  call  upon 
you  therefore  to  speak  the  truth  regarding  this  informa 
tion." 

Bellechasse  denied  the  imputation,  and  every  act  of 
his  during  the  crisis  and  afterward  proved  that  it  had 
no  foundation.  He  made  affidavit  to  the  effect  that 
in  the  month  of  October,  before  Clark  embarked  for  the 
Atlantic  coast,  en  route  to  Washington,  the  latter  called 
together  some  of  his  friends — 

''and  informed  them  of  some  of  the  views  and  intentions 
imputed  to  Burr,  which  were  then  almost  the  sole  topic  of 
conversation,  and  which,  from  the  reports  daily  arriving 
from  Kentucky,  had  caused  a  serious  alarm ;  and  he 
advised  them  all  to  exert  their  influence  with  the  inhab 
itants  of  the  country  to  support  the  Government  of  the 


JJournal,  pp.  412,  413. 
"Journal,  p.  413. 


WILKINSON  IN  NEW  ORLEANS    229 

United  States  and  to  rally  round  the  Governor,  although 
he  thought  him  incapable  of  rendering  much  service  as 
a  military  man, — assuring  them  that  such  conduct  only 
would  save  the  country  if  any  hostile  projects  were  enter 
tained  against  it,  and  that  this  would  be  the  best  method 
of  convincing  the  Government  of  the  United  States  of  the 
attachment  of  the  inhabitants  of  Louisiana,  and  of  the 
falsity  of  all  the  reports  circulated  to  their  prejudice."1 

Excitement  ran  high  in  Kentucky  even  as  early  as 
July,  and  by  October  it  had  made  itself  felt  not  only  in 
Louisiana,  West  Florida,  Texas  and  the  East,  but  also 
in  Mexico.  That  the  knowledge  of  the  conspiracy  in 
New  Orleans  was  dependent  on  the  presence  of  Burr's 
emissaries  can  be  shown  neither  by  reason  nor  data— 
that  they  should  have  preceded  the  army  thus  to  alarm 
and  arouse  opposition  would  be  to  credit  the  associates  • 
with  as  little  foresight  as  virtue.  But  just  as  Jefferson 
heard  nothing  but  rumors  of  the  project  till  Wilkinson 
had  made  his  exposures,  so  society  in  Louisiana  was 
not  cognizant  of  the  real  purposes  of  Burr  prior  to  the 
meeting  of  the  merchants  in  the  Government  House, 
December  gth.  Wilkinson  alone  lodged  the  charge  of 
treason ! 

At  one  o'clock,  January  6th,  an  aide-de-camp  of  the 
General  read  the  following  in  the  Coffee  House  and  had 
it  entered  on  the  books  :2 — 

"General  Wilkinson  regrets  that  it  is  not  in  his  power, 
from  a  pressure  of  public  interests,  which  imperiously 
command  his  attention,  to  be  at  the  Coffee  House  as  he 
intended  this  day.  He  therefore  takes  this  mode  of  warn 
ing  the  merchants  and  ship  owners  to  hold  their  vessels 

^Proofs,  p.  145. 

'Orleans  Gazette,  May  8,  1807. 


230  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

in  readiness  to  haul  off  into  the  stream  should  it  be  found 
necessary,  on  the  shortest  notice. — But  he  begs  that  this 
may  be  considered  merely  as  a  salutary  precaution,  not 
that  he  believes  Colonel  Burr  is  at  Natchez,  or  that  he 
will  ever  reach  this  city,  under  his  own  volition — and  he 
warns  the  citizens  not  to  respect  the  rumors  in  circulation, 
because  the  general  by  a  letter  from  Colonel  Burr's  own 
hand,  written  to  Dr.  Bollman,  is  authorized  to  say  that  the 
colonel's  utmost  calculation  of  force  did  not  exceed  6,000 
and  that  he  would  in  person  precede  the  main  body  with 
2,000  men  to  Natchez,  where  he  intended  to  halt.  The 
faithful  citizens  may  be  assured  that  with  moderate  exer 
tions  only,  and  the  expulsion  of  traitors,  the  storm  will 
burst  over  the  heads  of  its  authors,  and  hurl  them  head 
long  to  perdition,  whilst  the  inhabitants  of  this  city  shall 
dwell  in  security.'* 

The  art  of  mingling  alarm  and  confidence  had  been 
assiduously  cultivated  by  the  General,  but  it  will  be 
conceded  that  this  effort  was  a  pitiable  failure.  The 
question  must  have  been  asked  by  many  what  Burr 
meant  to  do  at  Natchez  and  Baton  Rouge.  Would  the 
"traitors''  pass  untouched  so  much  plunder?  And  was 
New  Orleans,  indeed,  the  sole  object  of  their  predatory 
ambition  ? 

The  seventh  of  January,  at  the  behest  of  Wilkinson, 
the  city  council  passed  an  ordinance  of  unusual  strin 
gency  :* — 

"Every  person  entering  New  Orleans  shall  be  detained 
twenty-four  hours  and  shall  declare  to  the  authorities  his 
name,  age,  business  or  profession,  from  whence  he  came 
and  the  motives  which  brought  him  hither;  the  captains 
of  all  boats  shall  be  detained  for  twenty-four  hours  after 
arriving  in  order  to  furnish  lists  of  passengers  conforming 
to  the  above  to  the  officer  on  guard  at  the  levee,  on  pain 

*Moniteur  de  la  Louisiane,  January  10,  1807. 


WILKINSON  IN  NEW  ORLEANS    231 

of  a  fine  of  $50.  Every  citizen  and  hotel-keeper  must  send 
every  five  days  to  the  mayor  a  list  of  those  in  their  estab 
lishments,  on  pain  of  a  fine  of  $99." 

Wilkinson  was  gradually  reaching  the  limit  of  his 
artifices,  and  in  attempting  to  keep  up  the  alarm  he  only 
rendered  himself  ridiculous.  Indeed,  at  the  moment  he 
was  instigating  the  council  to  pass  the  above  capricious 
order,  the  editor  of  the  Gazette  had  the  audacity  to 
say  that,  concerning  the  Burr  enterprise,  it  was 

''impossible  to  discover  the  real  circumstances  of  the  case 
in  contradiction  to  those  vague  and  idle  rumors,  which 
have  served  only  to  agitate  and  mislead  the  public  mind. 
.  .  .  From  the  best  information  we  can  collect  the 
object  of  Colonel  Burr  is  obviously  an  attack  upon  Mex 
ico,  and  not,  as  has  been  alleged,  the  parricidal  attempt  to 
dismember  the  Union."1 

Later  the  matter  was  put  in  a  different  light  and 
pointedly  by  "Centurio,"  in  the  Gazette.  Speaking  of 
Wilkinson's  tale  of  Burr's  hosts,  he  said  :2 — 

"That  such  an  army  was  approaching  was  never  be 
lieved  or  affected  to  be  believed  but  by  those  who  were 
interested  in  keeping  up  the  alarm ;  by  the  great  men,  as 
all  their  greatness  depended  on  it,  and  by  their  little  ones, 
because  they  have  among  them  some  snug  contracts  for 
supplying  the  government  with  materials  of  defense." 

Then,  referring  to  Wilkinson's  interference  with 
the  right  of  free  speech,  he  added,  "To  still  the  blast 
of  popular  indignation  by  silencing  the  press  was 
worthy  of  the  then  presiding  genius — the  calm  of  des 
potism  became  complete  among  us." 

1  Orleans  Gazette,  January  8,  1807;  Palladium,  February  5, 
1807. 

^Orleans  Gazette,  May  8,  1807. 


232  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

Slowly  the  days  dragged  past  November  I5th  and 
December  2Oth — and  still  no  "Declaration"  had  been 
made  in  the  Western  States  and  no  army  of  2,000  had 
appeared  at  Natchez.  Moreover,  not  a  word  was  heard 
of  hostile  armaments  from  the  sea,  which  the  General 
so  feared,  but  to  thwart  which  not  an  arm  had  been 
raised,  although  he  had  led  Jefferson  to  believe  that 
New  Orleans  had  been  selected  as  the  point  for  defense 
because  of  such  apprehension.  Never  the  Declaration 
of  Burr,  never  a  company  of  traitors,  and  never  an 
act  of  sedition — surely  those  were  to  be  forgiven  who 
questioned  the  reliability  of  the  General's  information 
and  the  sincerity  of  his  conduct. 

January  I4th.  ignorant  that  Burr  had  been  three 
days  at  Bayou  Pierre,  the  commander-in-chief  again 
resolved  to  try  conclusions  with  the  enemy  in  the  upper 
country. 

"It  is  my  desire  to  ascend  the  river,"  he  said  at  length 
to  Claiborne,1  "in  order  to  cooperate  with  our  flotilla 
under  command  of  Captain  Shaw,  to  resist  and  if  possible 
to  defeat  the  lawless  armament,  daily  expected  at  Natchez, 
under  the  conduct  of  Aaron  Burr ;  to  carry  this  plan  into 
effect,  I  find  the  co-operation  of  a  portion  of  the  militia  of 
the  territory  absolutely  indispensable.  .  .  .  Mr.  Burr's 
approach  to  us  will  depend  on  the  extent  of  his  numbers ; 
if  he  moves  in  great  force  his  progress  will  be  dilatory, 
and  I  trust  we  shall  be  able  to  anticipate  him  above 
Natchez,  drive  him  or\  shore,  destroy  his  boats  and  pro 
visions,  and  disperse  his  adherents. — If  he  advances  with 
2,000  men  agreeably  to  his  proposition  to  Dr.  Bollman  of 
the  3Oth  of  October,  I  will  seek  him  wherever  he  may  be 
found,  and  will  arrest  his  course  and  protect  the  country. 
— I  am  aware  Sir,  that  this  territory  and  the  government 

'Journal,  p.  426. 


WILKINSON  IN  NEW  ORLEANS    233 

of  the  United  States  have  many,  very  many  enemies  in 
this  city,  who  in  concert  with  Mr.  Burr,  aim  to  subvert  the 
Constitution  and  the  laws  under  which  we  live,  to  pillage 
this  city,  to  seize  your  shipping  and  to  carry  an  expedition 
against  a  country  in  peace  with  the  United  States." 

It  was  peculiar  irony  for  the  General,  fresh  from  his 
defiance  of  the  courts,  to  talk  of  the  subversion  of  the 
"laws  under  which  we  live."  And  hardly  less  peculiar 
— three  months  having  elapsed  since  Swartwout 
appeared  at  Natchitoches — that  he  should  think  it  not 
too  late  to  "protect  the  country." 

January  12,  1807,  the  Legislature  of  the  Territory 
of  Orleans  met  in  regular  session,  and  Claiborne's  mes 
sage,  which  dealt  mainly  with  the  conspiracy,  was  at 
once  submitted.1  At  the  instigation  of  Wilkinson 
there  had  been  embodied  in  the  document  an  article 
recommending  the  suspension  of  the  writ  of  habeas 
corpus.  Then  continued  the  message:2— 

"That  many  well-meaning  and  honest  citizens  may 
have  been  seduced  (through  various  means  and  artifices) 
into  a  promise  to  participate  in  an  unauthorized  expedi 
tion  to  Mexico,  I  can  readily  believe ;  these,  however,  will 
yield  obedience  to  the  call  of  their  country,  and  leave  their 
unprincipled  leaders  to  the  disgrace  which  awaits  them ; — 
but  it  was  really  with  difficulty  I  could  bring  myself  to 
think  that  an  association  hostile  to  the  government  of  the 
United  States  could  have  been  entered  into  by  our  citizens. 
The  proofs,  however,  are  too  strong  to  be  rejected." 

On  the  strength  of  what  evidence  had  he  ever 
believed?  Notwithstanding  his  conviction,  there  were 

*McMaster  (iii.,  73)  says  it  was  called  in  special  session. 
Many  others  have  fallen  into  the  same  error. 

2Journal,  p.  415.    Cf.  Orleans  Gazette,  January  16,  1807. 


234  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

many  still  incredulous,  and  perhaps  none  more  so  than 
the  representatives  in  the  territorial  council.  They  sat 
behind  closed  doors  the  day  Wilkinson  repeated  the 
story  of  the  conspiracy  he  had  told  over  and  over.  That 
heard,  they  passed  at  once  a  series  of  resolutions 
pledging  their  faith  in  the  integrity  of  the  Central  Gov 
ernment  and  in  the  Executive  of  the  United  States,  and 
condemning  any  enterprise  subversive  of  the  Constitu 
tion.  Their  next  act  was  to  reply  to  the  Governor's 
message  :x — 

"It  is  indeed  difficult  to  believe  that,  in  the  bosom  of  a 
government  the  most  free  that  exists  on  earth,  plots,  the 
success  of  which  must  be  fatal  to  liberty,  should  have 
been  formed.  If,  however,  it  be  true  that  the  ambitious 
and  depraved  men  who  have  conceived  such  criminal 
projects  have  found  proselytes,  the  Legislative  Council 
are  convinced  that  it  is  not  amongst  the  ancient  inhab 
itants  of  this  territory,  and  that,  notwithstanding  the  dis 
satisfaction  which  they  once  manifested  openly  when  they 
thought  themselves  aggrieved,  there  is  no  perfidy,  no 
treason  to  be  apprehended  from  them  by  the  general  gov 
ernment.  If  they  do  not  yet  possess  all  the  privileges  en 
joyed  by  the  American  citizen,  they  already  set  so  much 
value  on  the  rights  which  have  been  granted  to  them,  that 
their  late  privation  of  those  rights  in  the  present  stormy 
circumstances  has  created  among  them  the  most  serious 
alarms." 

If  this  were  indeed  the  timid,  conservative  assem 
bly  Mr.  Adams  assures  us  it  was,2  it  is  difficult  to 
account  for  the  spirit  of  this  paper,  which  was  adopted 
while  Wilkinson  was  yet  at  the  height  of  his  power  and 
Aaron  Burr  an  expected  enemy.  It  is  patent  that  the 

'Gayarre,  iv.,  177. 

^History  of  the  United  States,  iii.,  323- 


WILKINSON  IN  NEW  ORLEANS    235 

legislators  had  opinions  of  their  own;  and  they  pro 
ceeded  to  express  them  by  refusing  to  suspend  the  writ 
of  habeas  corpus  on  the  ground  that  it  would  be  a 
violation  of  the  Federal  Constitution.  The  signal  for 
the  revolt  against  the  tyranny  which  the  city  had 
patiently  borne  for  many  weeks  was  penetrating  as  a 
bugle  call.  To  Claiborne  and  Wilkinson  it  was  a  chal 
lenge  they  dared  not  accept.  If  there  could  have  been 
doubt  in  the  language  of  the  reply  to  the  Governor's 
message  as  to  the  course  they  meant  to  pursue,  it  would 
have  vanished  with  the  note  sent  by  the  House  to  Clai 
borne  four  days  later  r1— 

"With  regard  to  the  extraordinary  measures  which 
have  taken  place  for  some  time  past  in  this  territory, 
although  your  excellency  has  not  thought  proper  to  reveal 
to  the  Legislature  the  reasons  which  have  led  to  them,  yet 
this  House  considers  it  as  a  sacred  duty  which  they  owe 
to  themselves  and  their  fellow  citizens,  fully  to  investigate 
those  measures  and  the  motives  which  have  induced  them, 
and  to  represent  the  same  to  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States/' 

The  House  in  committee  of  the  whole  soon  took  up 
the  matter  of  a  Memorial  "To  the  Honorable  Senate 
and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  in 
Congress  assembled."  2  After  narrating  in  brief  the 
history  of  Wilkinson's  career  in  New  Orleans,  the 
Memorial  made  bold  to  discuss  the  writ  of  habeas 
corpus  and  the  relation  which  ought  to  subsist  between 
the  civil  and  military  powers : 

"We  feel  grateful  pleasure  in  referring  to  these  consti 
tutional  bulwarks  erected  for  our  protection — an  honest 

^ayarre,  iv.,  178. 

'Orleans  Gazette,  Extra,  March  20,  1807. 


236  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

pride  in  the  consciousness  that  we  have  not  rendered  our 
selves  unworthy  of  the  blessing — and  an  indignant  grief 
which  we  are  sure  your  honorable  body  will  participate, 
in  the  reflection  that  the  noblest  plan  ever  devised  for  the 
protection  of  personal  liberty — the  finest  theory  ever 
imagined  for  the  restraint  of  arbitrary  power  should, 
before  we  have  well  seen  its  operation,  be  rendered  abor 
tive — that  the  best  gift  offered  by  the  United  States  should 
be  violently  torn  from  our  grasp,  and  that,  while  its  con 
stitutional  guardians  looked  tamely  on,  the  holy  temple  of 
justice  should  be  sacrilegiously  rifled  of  this  revered  palla 
dium  of  our  rights." 

This  was  a  drastic  arraignment  of  Claiborne  and 
Wilkinson ;  and  stronger  words  still  were  to  be  used : 

"Though  nothing  can  justify,  yet  circumstances  of  ex 
treme  danger  in  the  moment  of  invasion,  during  the  sus 
pension  of  civil  authority,  might  excuse  some  of  these 
violent  measures. — But  here  no  foreign  enemy  or  open 
domestic  foe  was  then,  or  has  yet  been  proved  to  have 
been  within  any  perilous  distance  of  this  city,  or  that 
treason  lurked  within  our  walls.  .  .  .  The  acts  of 
high-handed  military  power  to  which  we  have  been  ex 
posed  [are]  acts  too  notorious  to  be  denied,  too  illegal  to 
be  justified,  too  wanton  to  be  excused." 

During  the  course  of  the  debate  on  the  Memorial 
the  history  of  the  conspiracy  was  reviewed  by  various 
speakers.  Of  these,  Dr.  Watkins  was  the  most  promi 
nent  and  forceful.  He  denounced  Claiborne  for  having 
assented  to  the  perversion  of  the  civil  law ;  for  having 
approved  the  unlawful  military  arrests;  the  illegal 
embargo;  for  having  transferred  to  Wilkinson  the 
command  of  the  battalion  of  Orleans  Volunteers  with 
out  their  consent  and  knowledge — the  same  militiamen 
being  forced  to  arrest  their  fellow  citizens,  open  letters 


WILKINSON  IN  NEW  ORLEANS    237 

and  serve  as  spies.  To  show  how  completely  the  Gen 
eral  had  terrorized  the  city,  Watkins  declared,  "If  you 
said  Burr  could  not  find  in  Kentucky  a  sufficient 
number  of  men,  you  were  accused  of  wishing  to  lull  the 
people  into  a  dangerous  security,  to  stifle  the  vigilance 
of  government ;  and  if  you  gave  confidence  to  the  Gen 
eral's  information,  that  Burr  could  raise  six  to  ten  thou 
sand  men,  you  were  in  both  cases  a  traitor."  * 

It  has  often  been  asserted  that  Burr  counted  on 
this  very  Legislature  to  declare  Louisiana  independent 
and  to  tender  him  the  government — that  he  was  to  wait 
at  Natchez  to  receive  a  delegation  which  was  to  make 
him  the  offer.2  Had  Burr  been  so  completely  deceived  ? 
We  are  likewise  assured  that  every  man  of  wealth  and 
influence  in  New  Orleans  knew  of  Burr's  project;  but 
that  they  had  probably  given  it  little  avowed  support — 
it  was  too  "wild  a  scheme."3  Daniel  Clark  is  cited  as 
a  type  of  this  character.  However,  reasoning  upon 
broad  grounds,  the  proposition  is  untenable.  How 
could  men  of  wealth  and  influence  hearken  to  a  con 
spiracy  which  aimed  at  the  looting  of  their  banks,  the 
pillaging  of  their  stores,  and  at  the  establishment  of  a 
reign  of  anarchy?  Men  are  selfish  and  very  rarely 
embark  in  enterprises  where  their  fortunes  as  well  as 
lives  are  at  stake.  The  inhabitants  of  New  Orleans 
were  no  exception  to  the  rule;  and  if  they  had  ever 
been  allied  with  Burr  it  was  with  the  understanding 
that  the  troubled  territories  of  Spain  were  to  receive 
the  sanctifying  touch  of  modern  enlightenment — to  be 

^Orleans  Gazette,  April  7,  1807. 

2Adams  (iii.,  323)  states  this  case  most  strongly. 

3Ibid. 


238  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

freed  from  the  bonds  of  medievalism.  The  Creoles 
had  indeed  lived  under  such  a  regime,  and  for  years 
after  coming  into  the  Union  were  looked  upon  as  mal 
contents.  History  has  written  that  they  were  ripe  for 
revolt,  that  they  were  Burr's  adherents,  and  that  it 
was  only  Wilkinson's  severe  measures  that  restrained 
them  at  the  crisis.  The  General  declared  that  to  Jef 
ferson;  but  singularly  enough  when  calm  once  more 
fell  over  the  Mississippi  Valley  he  confessed  to  Clark 
that  the  Creoles  had  never  been  connected  with  Burr. 

"The  animosities,"  said  he,  "which  have  been  excited 
in  this  city  by  Burr's  friends  and  well-wishers  and  his 
enemies  and  opposers  are  deep,  rancorous,  and  deadly. 
It  would  seem  that  the  former  composed  almost  exclu 
sively  of  our  own  countrymen  and  foreigners,  embrace 
the  men  of  talents  and  enterprize ;  but  the  latter  comprize 
almost  the  whole  of  the  ancient  inhabitants."1 

The  mass  of  Louisianians  had  indeed,  prior  to  the 
enterprise  of  Burr,  accepted  in  good  faith  the  govern 
ment  of  the  United  States.  If  there  had  been  discon 
tent  and  intrigue  among  the  Creoles,  no  one  can  say 
with  authority  that  at  the  crisis  and  afterwards  their 
conduct  was  other  than  exemplary.  When  the  agita 
tion  for  the  Spanish  war  was  high,  Claiborne  sent  to 
Dearborn  a  flattering  commendation  of  their  loyalty  :2— 

"You  have  already  been  informed  of  the  patriotism 

manifested  by  the  militia.     I  have  to-day  a  new  proof  to 

•  render  of  the  disposition  of  the  people  to  rally  at  the  call 

of  government.     A  company  of  volunteer  riflemen  have 

lately  been  organized  in  this  city,  and  have  tendered  their 

^Proofs,  Note  72. 
'Journal,  p.  321. 


WILKINSON  IN  NEW  ORLEANS    239 

services  to  march  at  such  time  and  to  such  place  as  they 
may  be  ordered." 

At  the  moment  of  Wilkinson's  advent  into  New 
Orleans,  when  the  storm  of  the  conspiracy  was  already 
high,  Claiborne  was  writing  a  dispatch  which  put  the 
final  seal  on  his  estimate  of  the  Creoles : 

"My  opinion  as  to  the  native  Louisianians,"  he  re 
lated  to  Dearborn,  "has  always  been  the  same;  a  majority 
are  well  disposed,  and  were  it  not  for  the  calumnies  of 
some  Frenchmen  who  are  among  us,  and  the  intrigue  of  a 
few  ambitious  unprincipled  men  whose  native  language 
is  English,  .1  do  believe  that  the  Louisianians  would  be 
very  soon  among  the  most  zealous  and  faithful  members 
of  our  Republic."1 

That  was  Wilkinson's  belief,  too,  when  he  had 
played  his  game  and  won.  Indeed,  it  had  always  been 
his  belief;  but  his  winning  depended  in  part  on  the 
case  he  could  make  out  against  the  Creoles.  They  had 
in  fact  given  some  grounds  for  suspicions — and  these 
were  made  the  most  of ;  but  that  they  had  been  in  league  A 
with  Burr,  whatever  his  plans  were,  seems  improbable  \ 
enough.  With  due  respect  to  the  opinions  of  histo 
rians,  there  is  not  a  credible  piece  of  evidence  to  show 
the  contrary.  Wilkinson  strove  with  all  his  might 
to  accumulate  data  which  might  be  exaggerated  into 
serving  his  purposes.  During  his  dictatorship  he  took 
every  precaution  to  secure  "papers,"  accusing  every 
man  against  whom  there  was  the  slightest  inference  of 
complicity  in  the  unspeakable  conspiracy.  There  was  * 
an  endless  confiscation  of  correspondence;  and  all  the 
while,  through  the  connivance  of  the  postmaster,  the 

'Journal,  p.  339- 


24o  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

mails  were  rifled  of  every  letter  which  excited  the  Gen 
eral's  suspicions.  Nor  was  this  all.  He  commissioned 
a  body  of  secret  police,  whose  business  it  was  to 
search  for  evidence.  According  to  J.  P.  Reibelt,  who 
served  in  that  capacity  and  who  had  enjoyed  a  Govern 
ment  appointment  in  Orleans  Territory,  they  were  spe 
cially  instructed  to  gather  testimony  which  would 
prove  that  Burr  meant  to  overthrow  the  Union  and  to 
attack  Mexico.  Reibelt  wrote  that  the  Creoles  were 
well  disposed  and  that  nothing  could  be  found  to  crimi 
nate  them.1 

In  fine,  what  is  the  secret  of  Wilkinson's  conduct  in 
New  Orleans?  Did  he  adopt  his  rigorous  course  be 
cause  he  knew  the  real  intentions  of  the  associates? 
When  we  consider  that  he  knew  of  the  conspiracy  as 
early  as  October  8th ;  that  he  forwarded  only  an  am 
biguous  notice  to  the  Executive;  that  he  sent  no 
advices  to  the  governors  of  the  infected  States ;  that  he 
concluded  a  corrupt  treaty  with  the  Spaniards ;  that  he 
dispatched  a  shameless  aide  to  Mexico ;  that  he  reached 
New  Orleans  two  months  after  he  had  notice  that  it 
was  to  be  sacrificed — when  we  consider  all  these  facts 
in  connection  with  his  unprecedented  conduct  in  the 
capital  of  Orleans,  it  must  appear  that  he  was  playing 
a  master  role  of  imposture,  and  unparalleled  in  our 
history!  In  sharp  contrast  to  his  studied,  noisy  pro 
gramme  the  Westerners  had  shown  an  unmistakable 
attitude  toward  any  design  which  threatened  the  integ 
rity  of  the  nation;  and  when  they  saw  more  clearly, 
turned  instinctively  against  the  alarmist  who  for  two 

Reibelt  to  Jefferson,  January  16,  1807 ;  Jefferson  MSS. 


WILKINSON  IN  NEW  ORLEANS    241 

long  months  had  cried  that  the  sword  of  Damocles 
was  suspended  over  their  heads;  that  treason  was 
working  darkly  at  the  foundations  of  the  Republic.  Is 
it  any  wonder  that  the  residents  of  New  Orleans  rose 
in  furious  passion  when  they  found  that  the  only  acts 
of  lawlessness  which  had  been  committed  had  fallen 
in  their  own  midst?  And  could  they  have  known  at 
the  time  the  other  transactions  of  the  General;  could 
Jefferson  and  Congress  and  the  country  have  known 
the  whole  of  the  circumstances — how  different  would 
have  appeared  the  preparations  the  filibusters  were 
making  on  the  Ohio  and  at  Clover  Bottom  on  the  Cum 
berland. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

The  Expedition. 

* 

MEANTIME,  November  12,   1806,  the  very 
day  Wilkinson  was   sending  from  Minor's 
Seat  his  terrifying  messages  to  the  officers 
in  New  Orleans,  to  the  President  and  to  the  Viceroy 
of  Mexico,  John  Graham,  from  Pittsburg,  in  the  dis 
affected  region,  was  calmly  writing  to  Madison :  — 

"I  have  taken  every  proper  occasion  to  make  enquiries 
as  to  the  state  of  the  public  mind  on  this  side  of  the  moun 
tains,  and  it  gives  me  pleasure  to  say  that  the  accounts  I 
receive  from  all  descriptions  of  people,  lead  to  a  belief, 
that  no  serious  impressions  have  been  made  unfriendly 
to  the  Union." 

From  Pittsburg  Graham  dropped  down  the  river  to 
Marietta.  Shortly  after  his  arrival  Blennerhassett 
called  on  him.  Singularly  enough,  Graham's  account 
at  the  trial  of  the  conversation  on  that  occasion  does 
not  accord  with  his  correspondence,  nor  with  the  intelli 
gence  he  gave  Governor  Tiffin  of  Ohio.  He  relates 
that  Blennerhassett  inquired  of  him  as  to  the  prepara 
tions  being  made  up  the  river  by  Tyler  and  Dean  for 
the  expedition ;  as  to  the  number  of  "men  and  settlers 
they  had  obtained" ;  that  he  "animadverted  upon  the 
conduct  pursued  toward  Colonel  Burr  at  Frankfort, 
stating,  however,  his  belief  that  such  conduct  was  not 
authorized  by  the  Government."  He  mentioned  that 
Burr  had  bought  the  Bastrop  lands. 

"Graham  to  Madison,  November  12,  1806;  Letters  in  Relation. 
242 


THE    EXPEDITION  243 

"He  [  "Uennerhassett]  stated  also,"  continued  Graham, 
"that  he  \\  AS  to  have  an  interest  in  his  purchase,  .  .  . 
that  the  obj  ^ct  of  his  preparations  was  the  settlement  of 
this  land;  .  .  .  that  it  was  a  legal  one,  and  Govern 
ment  would  htVe  no  right  to  interfere,  until  it  was  ascer 
tained  that  the>  (meaning  Colonel  Burr  and  himself,  as  I 
understood)  had  an  ulterior  object.  .  .  .  He  ad 
mitted,  in  the  course  of  conversation,  that  he  was  building 
boats  for  the  expedition  in  which  he  was  engaged  with 
Colonel  Burr;  that  he  was  engaging  young  men,  single 
and  without  families,  to  go  down  armed ;  .  .  .  that  he 
did  not  solicit  men  to  go ;  that  he  took  such  only  as  pleased 
to  go;  that  he  did  not  expect  more  than  three  hundred 
men  would  go  with  him.  He  stated,  also,  that  he  was 
engaging  provisions  for  this  same  expedition."1 

All  secrecy  had  been  cast  aside — no  effort  was  made 
to  conceal  the  object  for  which  the  boats  were  being 
built,  and  for  which  provisions  were  being  collected. 
They  were  for  an  expedition  to  the  Washita  lands ;  but 
under  this  was  another  design,  Blennerhassett  specially 
mentioning  to  Graham  the  possibility  of  fighting  the 
Spaniards,  while  "an  association  in  New  Orleans  for  the 
invasion  of  Mexico,"  was  referred  to  in  a  "very  impres 
sive  manner."  Graham  says  he  told  Blennerhassett 
that  he  thought  the  expedition  meant  to  attack  either 
the  territories  of  the  United  States  or  those  of  Spain, 
and  that  in  either  case  the  Government  would  have  to 
interfere.  The  agent  visited  General  Neville  and  was 
told  of  Burr's  interview  with  the  Morgans;  he  con 
ferred  also  with  the  Hendersons,  Blennerhassett's  ene 
mies  ;  and  the  next  step  was  to  excite  Governor  Tiffin, 
who  knew  little  or  nothing  of  Burr  and  his  partisans. 
The  Governor  was  aroused,  however,  and  promised  to 

^Annals  of  Congress,  1807-08,  p.  486. 


244  THE  AARON   BURR  CONSPIRACY 

mention  the  matter  the  next  Monday  in  his  message  to 
the  Legislature. 

November  28th,  after  his  interview  ^ith  Tiffin  in 
Chillicothe,  then  the  capital  of  Ohio,  Graham  wrote 
Madison  a  letter  breathing  a  tranquillity  unexpected  at 
a  season  when  the  Proclamation  had  been  four  and 
twenty  hours  before  the  world :  "At  this  place  they 
seem  to  know  nothing  of  the  plans  of  Colonel  Burr, 
and  I  am  rather  induced  to  think  that  he  has  no  one 
at  work  for  him  here — if  he  has,  they  have  made  very 
little  progress,  for  all  is  quiet."  The  reports  from  Ken 
tucky  of  Burr's  trial,  commented  Graham,  had  had  a 
very  different  effect  from  what  was  anticipated.  Burr's 
voluntary  appearance  in  court  had  spread  belief  in  his 
innocence.  However,  should  he  pursue  his  designs  "he 
will  yet  find  the  same  real  difficulties  to  encounter,  for 
the  great  body  of  the  people  are  decidedly  adverse  to 
any  plan  which  would  disturb  the  peace  or  break  in 
upon  the  unity  of  the  nation."1 

December  2d  Burr's  case  came  up  before  the  Frank 
fort  court,  and  Tiffin's  message  was  read  to  the  Ohio 
Legislature.  He  said  to  the  representatives  that  an 
expedition  inimical  to  the  interests  of  the  United  States 
was  about  to  be  set  on  foot;  that  a  flotilla  was  being 
prepared;  that  young  men  were  being  inveigled  into 
joining  by  promises  of  pay  and  rations  from  the  time 
of  their  engagement,  and  by  the  assurance  of  future  for 
tunes.  They  were  to  capture  New  Orleans  and  its  depen 
dencies  ;  possess  themselves  of  the  money  in  the  banks 
and  treasury  (which  amounted  to  $2,000,000) ;  erect  a 
to  Madison,  November  28,  1806 ;  Letters  in  Relation. 


THE    EXPEDITION  245 

government  independent  of  the  United  States  under  a 
foreign  power,  and  force  the  West  to  secede.  He  had 
been  informed  that  two  boats  loaded  with  artillery, 
muskets  and  bayonets  had  passed  down  the  Ohio  and 
that  there  were  men  on  board  who  spoke  French;  but 
for  want  of  legal  authority  they  could  not  be  arrested. 
Then  he  put  the  question :  Shall  the  conspirators  on  the 
Muskingum  be  allowed  to  escape?1 

The  Legislature  did  not  immediately  respond  to 
Tiffin's  appeal.  Only  on  the  sixth  was  the  requisite 
bill  enacted  into  a  law.  It  was  entitled:  "An  Act  to 
Prevent  certain  Acts  hostile  to  the  Peace  and  Tran 
quillity  of  the  United  States  within  the  Jurisdiction  of 
the  State  of  Ohio."  The  Governor  forthwith  sent  an 
express  to  Judge  Meigs  and  Major-General  Buell  at 
Marietta  with  orders  to  arrest  the  flotilla  and  to  gather 
proof  of  the  guilt  of  the  parties  concerned  in  the  enter 
prise.  Orders  were  sent  also  to  Generals  Gano  and 
Finlay  at  Cincinnati  to  plant  one  or  more  pieces  of 
artillery  on  the  bank  of  the  Ohio;  to  keep  patrols  along 
the  river,  and  to  call  out  three  hundred  men  to  over 
come  Blennerhassett  and  Tyler.  No  boat  was  to  be 
suffered  to  pass  unexamined.  Meigs  and  Buell  on  the 
ninth  set  about  the  execution  of  their  orders.  They 
proceeded  up  the  Muskingum,  seized  two  hundred  bar 
rels  of  provisions  and  took  charge  of  fifteen  bateaux, 
four  of  which  were  on  the  stocks.2  No  arrests  of  in 
dividuals  were  made,  though  Tiffin's  orders  were  other- 

^Orleans  Gazette,  February  13,  1807. 

*J.  Meigs,  Letter,  December  17,  1806;  Orleans  Gazette,  Febru 
ary  10,  1807.  Adams  (iii.,  286)  says  the  boats  had  been  taken  to 
Blennerhassett's  Island. 


246  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

wise  carried  out  with  some  degree  of  energy.  After  all, 
the  seizure  of  the  Muskingum  flotilla  was  a  matter  of 
small  moment  to  the  adventurers.  Had  the  boats  es 
caped  there  were  not  even  crews  for  them,  much  less 
companies  of  determined  traitors.  Those  at  a  distance, 
however,  saw  in  this  capture  the  destruction  of  the 
weapons  of  the  conspirators.  Jefferson  looked  upon 
the  affair  philosophically : 

"That  our  fellow  citizens  of  the  West,"  he  repeated 
confidently  to  Tiffin,1  "would  need  only  to  be  informed  of 
criminal  machinations  against  the  public  safety,  to  crush 
them  at  once,  I  never  entertained  a  doubt.  I  have  seen 
with  the  greatest  satisfaction  that  among  those  who  have 
distinguished  themselves  by  their  fidelity  to  their  country, 
on  the  occasion  of  the  enterprise  of  Mr.  Burr,  yourself,  and 
the  legislature  of  Ohio,  have  been  the  most  eminent." 

December  yth  marked  the  beginning  of  Blennerhas- 
sett's  misfortunes — his  boats  on  the  Muskingum,  which 
were  to  have  been  delivered  that  day,  were  seized; 
while  from  either  side  of  the  river  he  was  menaced  by 
the  militia.  Already  Comfort  Tyler  of  New  York  had 
reached  the  island  with  four  boats  and  twenty  men 
whom  he  denominated  "settlers."  November  I4th  he 
had  written  Blennerhassett  from  Pittsburgh 

"My  calculations  have  at  all  times  been  to  leave  Beaver 
on  the  first  of  next  month.  The  only  difficulty  that  I  have 
encountered  is,  the  procuring  the  provisions  necessary  for 
my  settlers,  some  of  whom  are  behind,  and  I  fear  they  will 
not  arrive  in  time ;  but  I  shall  be  off  with  the  few  that  may 
happen  to  be  with  me,  and  trust  to  those  behind  to  fol 
low  on." 

"Jefferson  to  Tiffin,  February  2,  1807;  Jefferson  MSS. 
*  Blennerhassett  Papers,  p.  160. 


THE    EXPEDITION  247 

The  tenth  of  December  brought  matters  on  the 
island  to  a  crisis.  The  Virginia  militia  announced  that 
on  the  morrow  would  come  the  fathoming  of  the  island 
secret.  Blennerhassett  and  Tyler  were  not  unadvised 
of  these  plans,  and  as  their  arrangements  for  departure 
were  almost  completed,  they  decided  that  they  should 
start  forthwith  on  their  perilous  but  inviting  voyage. 
The  early  part  of  the  evening  was  spent  in  making  final 
preparations;  by  midnight  everything  was  ready,  and 
the  lanterns  which  had  flashed  to  and  from  the  shore 
were  extinguished  and  the  rapid  current  of  the  Ohio 
bore  away  the  adventurers. 

The  following  day  Colonel  Phelps  with  a  body  of 
militia  took  possession  of  the  island,  only  to  find  it 
deserted!  Leaving  behind  the  bulk  of  his  force  he  set 
out  overland  for  the  mouth  of  the  Great  Kanawha  to 
intercept  the  flotilla.  But  while  on  watch  the  senti-  |  j 
nels,  "pouring  spirits  down  to  keep  spirits  up/'  as  one  I 
wrote,  fell  asleep  and  the  boats  passed  unnoticed. 
Meantime  the  mob  of  militia  left  on  the  island  had  cap 
tured  a  flatboat  with  fourteen  boys  aboard,  all  from 
Pittsburg  and  intending  to  join  Burr.  Besides  this 
exploit  the  men  raided  the  wine  cellar,  pulled  down 
fences  to  keep  the  fires  going,  and  destroyed  much  that 
had  made  the  island  a  thing  of  beauty.  Then  they 
proceeded  to  try  the  youthful  Burrites  before  Justices 
Wolf  and  Kencholoe  for  alleged  crimes  against  the 
State,  but  the  manner  in  which  the  trial  was  conducted 
made  a  farce  of  the  law.1  The  prisoners  were  speedily 
acquitted,  and,  taking  Mrs.  Blennerhassett  and  her 

Seville's  Letter,  December  21,  1806;  Letters  in  Relation. 


248  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

family  with  them,  pushed  off  once  more  to  land  a 
month  later  at  Bayou  Pierre. 

Already  the  news  of  the  Proclamation  was  spread 
ing  in  an  ever-widening  circle,  sweeping  away  the  last 
doubt  in  the  minds  of  the  uninitiated  as  to  the  nature 
of  the  expedition.  Its  effect  on  society  at  large  was 
tremendous — it  was  proof  positive  of  daring,  sinister 
conspiracy,  just  as  Wilkinson's  letters  had  been  to  the 
Occupant  of  the  White  House.  Jefferson  had  been 
grossly  deceived  and  had  in  turn  grossly  deceived  the 
masses.  Not  the  least  fatal  in  that  long  chain  of 
circumstances  was  the  escape  of  the  Ohio  flotilla  on  the 
eve  of  the  appearance  of  the  Proclamation — the  West 
erners  jumped  to  conclusions  they  would  not  otherwise 
have  reached,  and  the  cumulative  force  of  the  agitations 
could  find  relief  only  in  panic.  Twice  the  town  of  Cin 
cinnati  was  tumultuous  with  fear.  The  editor  of  the 
Liberty  Hall,  a  local  newspaper,  recounted  that  the 
report  became  current  late  one  afternoon  that  three  of 
Burr's  armed  boats  were  anchored  near  the  city,  which 
was  soon  to  be  attacked.  At  nightfall  some  sport- 
loving  wag  fired  a  bomb  and  the  inhabitants  instantly 
concluded  that  the  heralded  assault  had  begun.  The 
officials  put  their  wits  together;  the  militia  was  called 
out ;  the  citizens  organized  for  defense ;  and  a  neighbor 
ing  town  was  invited  to  lend  assistance  in  this  dire  ex 
tremity.  At  last,  late  the  following  day,  some  one 
ventured  near  enough  the  vessels  to  learn  that  they 
belonged  to  a  Louisville  merchant  and  were  loaded  with 
dry  goods.  The  editor  naively  suggested  that  they  had 
made  themselves  ridiculous.  He  ventured  the  opinion 


THE    EXPEDITION  249 

that  Burr  was  playing  the  part  of  a  land  jobber  on  the 
Washita  in  conjunction  with  Judge  Lynch,  and  that 
his  project  was  greatly  exaggerated.  The  Western  Spy 
declared  that  Blennerhassett  had  passed  Cincinnati 
with  four  keel  boats  loaded  with  "military  stores" ;  that 
many  boats  were  being  built;  that  the  Spanish  settle 
ments  in  Mexico  were  to  be  attacked ;  and  that  20,000 
men  were  engaged  in  the  enterprise.1  As  a  further 
illustration  of  the  nervousness  of  society  the  following 
paragraph  is  in  point  :2 — 

"It  has  been  for  some  time  reported  and  believed  at 
Louisville  that  Colonel  Burr  was  building  gunboats  and 
ships  of  war  at  Marietta  and  Wheeling ;  at  those  places  it 
is  understood  that  he  is  making  great  naval  equipments 
at  Louisville  and  Limestone;  and  some  have  believed 
that  vast  military  preparations  were  making  at  all  those 
places." 

Ignorance  of  the  actual  state  of  affairs  was  there 
fore  at  the  bottom  of  the  increasing  excitement.  The 
newspapers  ran  riot,  reporting  with  embellishments 
every  story  of  the  hour — nothing  was  too  wild  or  ab 
surd  for  belief.3 

Amid  this  whirl  of  excitement  Graham  left  Ohio 
for  Frankfort  on  hi£  errand  of  inquiry.  So  slow  was 
his  progress,  however,  the  holly  was  displayed  and  the 
festivities  of  Christmas  were  being  celebrated  when  he 
came  before  the  Legislature  of  Kentucky  with  his  tale 

^Western  Spy,  December  23,  1806;  Palladium,  January  8,  1807. 

^Palladium,  December  n,  1806. 

'For  a  curious  medley  of  stories,  see :  National  Intelligencer, 
November  7,  1806;  Salem  Gazette,  December  12,  1806;  Palladium, 
December  18,  1806;  Salem  Gazette,  January  13,  1807;  Palladium, 
January  15,  1807;  etc. 


250  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

from  Ohio.  Several  days  the  representatives  sat  behind 
closed  doors,  emerging  with  a  law  entitled,  "An  Act  to 
Prevent  Unlawful  and  Warlike  Enterprises."  Orders 
were  dispatched  to  various  places  on  the  Ohio  to  stop 
the  passage  of  all  boats,  and  the  militia  was  sent  to 
enforce  the  decrees  of  the  State.  It  is  worth  while 
noting  that  in  the  nine  clauses  of  the  Act  the  name  of 
Burr  does  not  appear,  but  the  denunciation  of  unlawful 
expeditions  was  unqualified.  The  penalty  for  the  in 
fraction  of  the  statute  was  a  fine  of  two  thousand 
dollars  and  one  year's  imprisonment.1  Three  weeks 
earlier,  during  Burr's  second  trial  at  Frankfort,  this 
same  Legislature  had  passed  a  series  of  resolutions,  lest 
the  world,  a$  they  expressed  it,  should  misapprehend 
their  attitude  towards  the  Union:2— 

"Be  it  resolved :  That  the  people  of  Kentucky  feel  the 
strongest  attachment  for  the  Federal  Government,  and 
consider  a  dismemberment  of  the  Union  as  the  greatest 
evil  which  could  befall  them.  .  .  .  And  that  the  peo 
ple  of  Kentucky  have  entire  confidence  in  the  present 
Administration  of  the  general  Government." 

From  every  quarter  in  the  West  came  simulta 
neously  avowals  of  loyalty  to  the  Government  and  de 
fiance  to  traitors.  While  the  lawmakers  of  Kentucky 
were  placing  themselves  on  record,  Claiborne  was  warn 
ing  the  inhabitants  of  Louisiana  against  the  treasonable 
expedition  of  Burr.  December  i6th,  ignorant  of  the 
happenings  along  the  Ohio  and  of  the  Proclamation, 
solely  through  Wilkinson's  influence,  Claiborne  pro 
mulgated  his  denunciation  against  the  "traitorous  pro- 

1  Palladium,  January  I,  1807. 
^Palladium,  December  18,  1806. 


THE    EXPEDITION  251 

ject  to  subvert  the  authority  of  the  Government  over  a 
portion  of  the  territory  thereof  and  to  invade  the  do 
minions  of  the  King  of  Spain,  a  prince  in  amity  with 
the  United  States."  *  A  week  later,  December  23d— 
Burr  was  still  in  Tennessee — Meade  issued  a  proclama 
tion  similar  to  Claiborne's  in  tone  and  wording.  Meade 
relied  much  upon  Claiborne  and  had  a  month  earlier 
written  him,  "We  are  here  in  constant  watch  and  ready 
to  march  at  the  first  call  of  our  country.  .  .  .  The 
body  of  the  Territory  is  honest,  brave,  and  ready  to 
hazard  their  lives  and  fortunes  in  their  country's 
cause."2  The  Legislature,  before  it  was  adjourned  in 
anticipation  of  a  conflict  with  Burr,  passed  the  follow 
ing  resolution : — 

"That  they  are  attached  in  the  highest  degree  to  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  have  the  utmost 
confidence  in  the  wisdom  and  virtue  of  the  Chief  Magis 
trate  ;  and  that  every  project  of  the  ambitious  and  enter 
prising  to  dissever  the  Union  and  to  usurp  the  preroga 
tive  of  Government,  will  excite  their  honest  indignation."3 

In  Tennessee,  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  many  of 
them  officers,  addressed  General  Jackson  offering  to 
take  up  arms  in  defense  of  the  Union  ;*  while  the  gov 
ernor  of  the  State  said  in  a  letter  to  a  member  of 
Congress,  "You  may  rest  assured  nothing  is  to  be  ap 
prehended  from  any  misconduct  in  the  people  of  Ten 
nessee.  No  doubt  some  malcontents  are  among  us; 

^Orleans  Gazette,  February  13,  1807. 

2Meade  to,  Claiborne,  November  23,  1806;  MSS.  Governor 
Claiborne's  Correspondence  Orleans  Territory,  vol.  v.,  State  De 
partment  Archives. 

^Annals  of  Congress,  Second  Session,  1806-07,  p.  78. 

'Orleans  Gazette,  February  6,  1807. 


252  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

but  their  party  is  too  insignificant  to  disturb  the  public 
tranquillity." 

After  Burr's  second  vindication  at  Frankfort  he 
returned  to  Lexington  where  he  met  General  Adair; 
and  together  they  rode  to  Nashville.  December  I4th 
they  entered  the  capital  of  Tennessee,  while  Blenner- 
hassett  was  floating  down  the  Ohio,  and  Wilkinson  was 
making  his  military  seizures  in  New  Orleans.  At 
Nashville  Adair  and  Burr  parted  company,  the  former 
starting  overland  for  New  Orleans  through  the  Indian 
I  country,  the  latter  going  to  Andrew  Jackson's.1 

The  connection  between  Burr  and  Jackson  is  of 
more  than  passing  interest,  not  only  because  of  the 
prominence  and  marked  individuality  of  the  two  char 
acters,  but  also  for  the  light  it  throws  on  the  nature  of 
"  the  conspiracy.  Burr  spent  at  this  time — when  Wilkin 
son  had  been  terrorizing  New  Orleans  three  weeks, 
while  the  Proclamation  for  a  similar  period  had  con 
demned  the  expedition — eight  days  in  and  near  Nash 
ville,  chiefly  with  Jackson.  This  fact  evoked  serious 
criticism  of  the  latter's  conduct ;  one  of  the  most  potent 
arguments  urged  against  him  in  his  Presidential  can 
vass  was  that  he  had  given  comfort  to  Burr  the  traitor. 
In  many  quarters  the  episode  was  reviewed  with  viru 
lence,  the  party  in  power  making  the  most  extreme  ac 
cusations.  One  of  Jackson's  correspondents,  I.  S.  Bar- 
bour,  writing  from  Culpeper,  October  4,  1828,  related 
that  'The  hirelings  of  power  have  redoubled  their 
exertions  among  us  within  the  last  fortnight  and  the 

Correspondence  from  Nashville,  December  20;  National  In 
telligencer,  January  23,  1807. 


THE    EXPEDITION  253 

'Burr  charge'  was  pressed  with  greater  earnestness  and 
malignity."1  It  was  emphasized  that  Jackson  sent  No 
vember  12,  1806,  a  denunciation  of  Burr  to  Claj  borne, 
and  that  a  month  later  he  was  entertaining  at  his  home 
the  chief  of  the  conspirators.  It  is  noticeable  that  those 
writers  who  have  satisfied  themselves  that  this  letter  in 
criminates  Jackson,  publishes  him  to  the  world  as  deep 
in  the  conspiracy,  never  quote  the  concluding  lines  of 
that  much  distorted  communication :  "I  love  my  coun 
try  and  Government — I  hate  the  Dons — I  would  de 
light  to  see  Mexico  reduced ;  but  I  will  die  in  the  last 
ditch  before  I  would  yield  a  foot  to  the  Dons  or  see 
the  Union  disunited."  As  a  common-sense  proposition 
how  could  Jackson  have  betrayed  a  plot  in  which  he 
was  himself  vitally  implicated?  Jackson  averred  that 

he  merely  reported  rumor:  a  certain  Captain  , 

passing  a  day  and  a  night  with  him,  had  told  of  the 
designs  of  the  adventurers,  how  they  plotted  to  divide\ 
the  Union  by  seizing  New  Orleans,  to  conquer  Mexico,  \ 
and  with  the  aid  of  the  Federal  troops  under  Wilkinson  ] 
to  effect  the  separation  of  the  Western  States.     His/ 
suspicions  were  aroused,  he  said,  and  a  few  days  later 
he  warned  Governors  Smith  and  Claiborne.2    The  trutjr~]   j 
is  it  was  Wilkinson's  connection  with  the  affair  v 
alarmed  the  Tennesseean. 

Although  Jackson  had  said  to  Claiborne  in  his  letter 
of  November  I2th,  "This  I  write  for  your  own  eye," 
the  Governor  immediately  sent  a  copy  of  it  to  Jefferson. 
Moreover,  Wilkinson  had  the  original  for  a  time  in  his 

*I.  S.  Barbour  to  Jackson,  October  4,  1828;  Jackson  MSS. 
'Jackson  to  Campbell;  Parton's  Jackson,  i.,  332. 


254  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

possession  and  made,  without  Claiborne's  knowledge,  a 
copy  of  it  which  he  used  extensively.  Jackson  justly 
complained  to  Claiborne  the  next  year  of  the  publicity 
which  had  been  given  his  private  correspondence,  ask 
ing  at  the  same  time  for  a  copy  of  the  letter.  He  did 
not  conceal  his  opinion  of  Wilkinson's  double  dealing, 
and  expressed  the  wish  that  the  conspiracy  should  be 
thoroughly  developed.  Claiborne,  however,  was  still 
impressed  with  the  righteousness  of  the  General,  for 
in  his  reply  dated  December  5,  1807,  he  said,  "I  am  free 
to  declare  that  my  impressions  are  greatly  in  his  [Wil 
kinson's]  favor."  His  excuse  for  the  publication  of 
Jackson's  letter  read  as  follows: 

"I  am  persuaded  you  will  not  suppose  that  I  did,  either 
unnecessarily  or  improperly,  expose  the  contents  of  your 
communication.  It  reached  me  at  an  interesting  crisis, 
and  was  only  resorted  to  with  a  view  to  serve  our  country 
and  Government,  to  which  I  always  believed  you  to  be 
ardently  attached."1 

Jackson's  every  act  was  one  of  loyalty.  Although 
he  was  engaged  in  preparing  boats  for  Burr,  the  per 
sistent  rumors  concerning  the  nature  of  the  expedition 
led  him  early  in  December  to  wonder  whether  he  had 

deceived.2     Burr  should  at  least  reassure  him. 

/    Says  Davis,  "General  Jackson  addressed  a  letter  to 

|  Colonel  Burr  in  which  he  alluded  to  rumors  that  were 

\l  I  afloat  of  his  having  hostile  designs  against  the  United 

\      States,  adding  that  if  this  were  tr&^he  would  hold  no 

^^^V  "  jjf^tjlA'      - 

^communication  on  the  subject;  biftfif  untrue  and  his 

\     /Claiborne  to  Jackson,  December  3,  1807;  Jackson  MSS. 
^  'Daniel  Smith  to  Jackson,  January  3,  1807 ;  Jackson  MSS. 


THE    EXPEDITION  255 

intentions  were  to  proceed  to  Mexico,  he  would  join 
and  accompany  him  with  his  whole  division/'1 
this  Burr  replied,  that  he  had  no  design  whatever  "in 
imical  or  hostile  to  the  United  States,  and  whenever  hi 
was  charged  with  the  intention  of  separating  the  Union, 
the  idea  of  insanity  must  be  ascribed  to  him."2 

Of  the  five  boats  to  have  been  built  at  Clover  Bot 
tom  on  the  Cumberland,  two  only  were  ready.  Patton 
Anderson,  Jackson's  intimate  friend,  had  raised  a  full 
company  to  go  with  Burr  to  the  war,  but  the  war  was 
still  in  the  future — the  news  of  Wilkinson's  peace  with 
the  Spaniards  had  spread  by  this  time  to  the  seaboard — 
besides,  reports  were  in  circulation  derogatory  to  the 
character  of  the  enterprise  which  effectually  dampened 
the  ardor  even  of  the  adventurers.  December  2Oth,  «-- 
Burr  sent  a  note  to  Blennerhassett,  saying  that  he  had 
experienced  distressing  delays,  but  that  he  would  be 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Cumberland  Sunday  the  twenty-  i 
third  inst.3  Burr  had  been  in  no  wise  molested,  and 
calculated  the  time  of  his  departure  to  a  day,  which 
does  not  accord  with  the  usual  tale  that  he  fled  so 
precipitately  he  took  but  two  boats  with  him.*  Decem 
ber  22d,  having  received  back  from  Jackson  one  thou 
sand  seven  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars  for  the 
unfinished  boats,  Burr  embarked  a  number  of  horses  in 
one  of  his  vessels,  a  few  men,  whom  he  admitted  to 
have  hired,  in  the  other,  and  floated  down  the  Cumber- 

1Memoirs  of  Aaron  Burr,  n.,  382. 

'Pattern's  Jackson,  i.,  333. 

3Burr  to  Blennerhassett,  December  20,  1806;  Blennerhassett 
Papers,  p.  185. 

*Adams  (iii.,  289)  and  McMaster  (iii.,  72)  state  the  case  in 
an  exaggerated  way. 


256  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

land  to  its  mouth,  where  Blennerhassett,  Davis  Floyd, 
and  the  rest  of  the  company  awaited  him.1  Burr  could 

nnow  have  had  no  other  purpose  in  view  than  to  begin 
the  settlement  of  his  Washita  lands — there  was  no 
other  alternative.  The  idea  which  has  prevailed  that 
up  to  the  moment  of  being  confronted  by  the  militia 
at  Bayou  Pierre  he  calculated  on  the  cooperation  of 
Wilkinson  in  an  assault  on  New  Orleans  is  as  absurd 
as  it  would  be  to  assert  that  the  news  of  the  peace  with 
the  Spaniards  had  required  more  than  two  months  for 
its  dissemination  in  the  West.  Nor  more  could  he  have 
dreamed  of  advancing  his  interests  by  force — that  he 
could  not  command,  had  he  been  so  disposed. 

Blennerhassett,  Tyler,  and  Smith,  with  their  four 
boats,  after  the  escape  from  Wood  County  the  night 
of  December  10-11,  had  met  with  no  further  obstruc 
tions.2  At  the  falls  of  the  Ohio,  six  days  removed 
i  from  the  island,  they  were  joined  by  Davis  Floyd  of 
Indiana  with  three  boats  and  thirty  men.  When  Burr 
had  come  the  formidable  squadron,  laden  with  horses, 
agricultural  implements,  provisions,  and  personal  arms, 
was  in  complete  array.  There  were  in  all  nine  bateaux 
and  less  than  sixty  men.  An  inconsiderable  fleet : 
nevertheless  its  strength  seems  to  have  been  greater 
than  Burr  anticipated,  for  he  wrote  at  once  to  Lynch 
to  send  an  increased  supply  of  corn  and  additional 
farming  implements.3  Christmas  Day  he  sent  a  note 
to  the  commander  of  Fort  Massac,  notifying  him  of  his 

^Orleans  Gazette,  January   16,    1807;    National  Intelligencer, 
January  23,  1807. 

'Blennerhassett  Papers,  p.  184. 
'Annals  of  Congress,  1807-08,  p.  658. 


THE    EXPEDITION  257 

coming,  which  seems  a  foolish  proceeding  in  one  flee 
ing,  as  we  have  been  often  told,  the  clutches  of  the  law. 

"I  avail  myself  of  the  opportunity  of  Mr.  Hopkins," 
Burr  said,  "to  offer  you  salutations  and  the  compliments 
of  the  season.  Having  proposed  to  descend  the  river  in  a 
few  days,  I  shall  have  the  pleasure  of  paying  my  respects 
to  you  on  the  way,  and  of  receiving  your  commands  for 
the  South." 

The  twenty-eighth  of  December  the  fleet  moved 
down  the  Ohio,  and  the  night  of  the  twenty-ninth 
anchored  a  mile  below  Massac.  Bissell  rowed  to  the 
camp  the  day  after  the  arrival  of  the  adventurers  to  re 
turn  the  greetings  of  the  ex-Vice-President  and  to  in-L 
vite  him  to  dine  at  the  fort.  But  his  civilities  were 
declined.  It  was  here,  too,  that  Jacob  Dunbaugh,  who 
afterwards  figured  in  the  trial,  joined  the  expedition. 
Having  personally  applied  for  a  twenty-day  furlough,  j 
his  wish  was  granted ;  but  Dunbaugh  in  the  excitement  I 
at  the  collapse  of  the  association  failed  to  keep  his  en 
gagement  and  was  advertised  as  a  deserter.  He  took 
refuge  at  Baton  Rouge,  whence  Wilkinson  coaxed  him 
with  a  pardon  to  prime  him  as  a  leading  State  witness. 
His  writings,  leaving  out  of  account  his  testimony  at 
Richmond,  show  him  to  have  been  a  despicable  char 
acter.  The  following  letter  to  Captain  Bissell  settles 
for  all  time  his  credibility  :* 

"With  sorrow  I  take  Pen  in  hand  to  inform  you,"  he 
said  briefly  and  bluntly,  "that  I  had  to  tell  the  officers  that 
you  sent  me  as  a  Spy  against  Colonel  Burr  and  had  to 
make  outt  what  I  new  againg  him[.]  I  wrote  that  you 

*Letters  in  Relation. 


25 8  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

sent  me  on  that  Purpes[.]  [They]  the  thought  My  Cap 
tain  [Bissell]  was  interested [.]  I  told  them  that  he  did 
not  know  what  Burr's  mening  was  to  take  some  men  down 
the  River  with  him.  ...  I  should  be  thankful  if  my 
Captain  would  send  some  money  if  their  is  any  for  me 
and  my  Boots  if  my  detes  air  paid." 

Meantime  Graham  had  reached  Nashville,  having 
,-left  Frankfort  December  23d.  Whether  he  brought 
the  Proclamation  with  him,  or  whether  it  had  already 
arrived,  cannot  be  ascertained.  Certain  it  is  that  it 
came  after  the  departure  'of  Burr ;  it  was  not  until 
January  ist  that  Jackson  received  his  special  orders 
from  the  Secretary  of  War.  Dearborn,  under  the  stim 
ulus  of  popular  rumor,  hinted  to  Jackson  that,  knowing 
the  secrets  of  the  conspirators,  he  could  strike  a  blow 
to  good  advantage.  The  Tennesseean  was  incensed, 
and,  although  he  set  about  his  duty  manfully,  he  took 
occasion  to  say  to  Dearborn  what  came  into  his  mind. 
One  phrase  is  particularly  characteristic  and  forcibly 
expresses  Jackson's  interpretation  of  the  general  tenor 
of  the  order — he  was  expected  to  play  the  part  of  the 
"smiling  assassin."  He  deeply  resented  the  insinua 
tion  that  he  was  himself  a  conspirator.  Congressman 
Campbell,  Jackson's  friend,  paid  several  visits  to  Jeffer 
son  and  Dearborn  in  the  interest  of  peace.  The  latter 
avowed  that  no  offense  had  been  intended  in  the  order ; 
that,  on  the  contrary,  because  of  reliance  in  him  he  had 
been  given  the  utmost  freedom  of  action ;  and  Jefferson, 
to  quote  Campbell's  language  to  Jackson,  declared  "his 
unshaken  and  unlimited  confidence  in  your  integrity." 
Jackson,  upon  the  receipt  of  the  order  of  January 
'G.  W.  Campbell  to  Jackson,  February  6,  1807;  Jackson  MSS. 


THE    EXPEDITION  259 

ist,  ordered  the  mobilization  of  the  militia;  and  twelve 
companies  of  volunteers  were  to  march  on  the  fifth 
under  the  command  of  Brigadier-General  James  Win 
chester.  Secret  messengers  were  sent  to  the  mouth  of 
the  Cumberland  and  to  Fort  Massac.  Jackson  wrote 
January  2d  to  Captain  Bissell,  that  he  had  heard  that  a 
number  of  boats  had  assembled  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Cumberland,  that  they  were  loaded  with  arms  and  am 
munition,  and  that  the  expedition  was  hostile  to  the 
United  States.  Bissell  was  accordingly  instructed  to 
capture  all  parties  engaged  in  such  an  enterprise,  and  to 
report  what  information  he  had  concerning  the  number 
of  men,  their  equipment,  and  rendezvous. 

January  4th,  John  Murrell  delivered  the  dispatch 
to  Bissell,  who  replied  that  he  had  received  neither  the  ' 
President's  Proclamation,  nor  the  orders  from  the  War 
Department;  and  then  continued:  "There  has  not  tor 
my  knowledge  been  any  assembling  of  men  or  boats J 
at  this  or  any  other  place  unauthorized  by  law  or  pre-j 
cedency."     For  two  weeks  he  had  made  it  a  point  to 
examine  the  cargo  of  all  vessels  descending  the  river, 
but  as  yet  nothing  alarming  had  been  seen.     He  con 
cluded  by  saying  that  on  or  about  the  thirty-first  ultimo 
Colonel  Burr,  late  Vice-President,  "passed  this  way 
with  about  ten  boats  of  different  descriptions,  navigated 
with  about  six  men  each,  having  nothing  on  board  j 
that  would  even  suffer  a  conjecture  more  than  that  he 
was  a  man  bound  to  market.     He  has  descended  the 
river  towards  Orleans." 

When  Murrell  had  returned  with  this  news  Jackson 
Palladium,  February  5,  1807 ;  Parton's  Jackson,  i.,  323- 


260  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

disbanded  the  militia.  "This  express  returned  the 
eighth  instant,"  he  said  in  an  official  account,  "whose 
report,  together  with  information  given  by  Captain 
Bissell,  gave  me  pleasing  news — that  nothing  in  that 
quarter  was  alarming.  Under  all  these  circumstances, 
added  to  the  limited  point  of  view  in  which  the  orders 
given  me  must  be  interpreted,  I  have  deemed  proper  to 
dismiss  the  corps  under  my  command."1 

Thus  the  volunteers  returned  home  a  few  days  be 
fore  Burr's  flotilla  pushed  into  Bayou  Pierre.  With 
Burr  had  gone  Stokely  Hays,  Mrs.  Jackson's  nephew. 
He  bore  a  letter  of  introduction  from  Jackson  to  Clai- 
borne,  and  was  instructed  to  abandon  Burr  if  he  discov 
ered  any  thing  in  his  conduct  threatening  to  the  United 
States.2  In  Jackson's  mind,  however,  there  was  no 
question  as  to  the  aim  of  the  associates.  January  15, 
1807,  he  spoke  out  plainly  in  a  confidential  epistle  to 
one  of  his  most  intimate  friends  :3  — 

"The  late  denunciation  of  Aaron  Burr  as  a  traitor  has 
excited  great  surprise  and  general  indignation  against 
Burr.  Still,  from  the  opinion  possessed  of  the  accuser 
(Wilkinson)  many  there  are  who  wait  for  the  proof  be 
fore  they  will  pronounce  him  guilty  of  the  charge.  .  .  . 
[Then  he  referred  to  the  rumor  that  he  was  on  full  march 
with  Burr.]  Should  you  ever  hear  that  I  am  embarked 
in  a  cause  inimical  to  my  country,  believe  it  not ;  .  .  . 
or  that  I  would  not  put  any  man  out  of  existence  that 
would  name  such  a  thing  to  me,  without  on  the  ground  of 
discovering  it  to  the  proper  authority,  believe  them  not. 

/And  if  Burr  had  any  treasonable  intentions  in  view,  he  is 
the  basest  of  all  human  beings.  I  will  tell  you  why.  He 

^Orleans  Gazette,  February  10,  1807. 
"Parton's  Jackson,  i.,  321. 
'Parton's  Jackson,  i.,  330. 


THE    EXPEDITION  261 

always  held  out  the  idea  of  settling  Washita,  unless  a  war 
with  Spain;  in  that  event  he  held  out  the  idea  that  from  j 
his  intimacy  with  the  Secretary  of  War,  he  would  obtain  j 
an  appointment ;  and  if  he  did  he  would  revolutionize  ^ 
Mexico.     .     .     .     If  he  is  a  traitor,  he  is  the  basest  that 
ever  did  commit  treason,  and  being  tore  to  pieces  and 
scattered  to  the  four  winds  of  heaven  would  be  too  good 
for  him." 

The  vehemence  of  the  language  corresponded  with 
the  ingenuousness  and  impetuosity  of  Jackson's  nature. 
At  the  moment  he  wrote,  the  end  of  the  expedition 
was  unknown;  but  if  he  ever  hesitated  in  his  judg 
ment  of  Burr,  the  verdict  was  not  long  in  suspense. 
He  was  summoned  to  Richmond  as  a  State  witness,? 
but  the  attitude  he  assumed  convinced  the  prosecution; 
that  the  less  they  had  of  him  the  better  would  fare 
their  case ;  so  he  was  never  put  on  the  stand.    He  wrote 
from  Richmond  before  the  trial  was  well  begun,  "I 
am  more  convinced  than  ever  that  treason  was  never  i 
intended  by  Burr ;  but  if  it  was,  you  know  my  wishes  \ 
— that  he  may  be  hung.    I  am  still  more  convinced  that  I 
whatever  may  have  been  the  project  of  Burr,  James 
Wilkinson  has  gone  hand  and  hand  with  him."  1    Jack-  • 
son  never  did  things  by  halves ;  through  his  long'  career 
in  State  and  nation  he  never  struck  a  compromise. 
Iron-handed,  inflexible,  honest,  Andrew  Jackson,  the 
hero  of  the  battle  of  New  Orleans  and  queller  of  Nulli 
fication,  was  not  one  to  stoop  to  a  madman's  plot  for  a 
division  of  the  States. 

The  last  day  of  1806  the  flotilla  emerged  upon  the  ^ 
broad  waters  of  the  Mississippi.  New  Year's  day  a  stop 

Barton's  Jackson,  i.,  335. 


262  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

was  made  at  New  Madrid,  opposite  the  mouth  of  the 
Ohio ;  and  three  days  later  they  hauled  in  at  Chickasaw 
Bluffs,  now  called  Memphis.  Lieutenant  Jacob  Jackson 
commanded  the  fort,  and  was  as  ignorant  as  Bissell  at 
Massac  of  the  ban  which  had  gone  forth  against  the 
filibusters.  The  lieutenant  was  indeed  ready  to  join 
them  on  the  avowal  that  they  were  bound  for  Mexico, 
and  accepted  money  from  Burr  to  enable  him  to  raise 
a  company  in  his  service.1  The  sixth  of  January  the 
fleet  of  flatboats  moved  on,  and  four  days  later  they 
halted  in  Mississippi  Territory,  where  the  excitement 
was  intense.  The  proclamations  of  Claiborne  and 
Meade  had  roused  the  whole  country  against  Burr, 
who,  upon  landing,  issued  a  public  letter  asserting  the 
innocence  of  his  views  :2 — 


"If  the  alarm  which  has  been  excited  should  not  be 
appeased  by  this  declaration,"  ran  the  manifesto,  "I  invite 


my  fellow  citizens  to  visit  me  at  this  place,  and  to  receive 
from  me  in  person,  such  further  explanations  as  may  be 
necessary  to  their  satisfaction,  presuming  that  when  my 
views  are  understood,  they  will  receive  the  countenance 
of  all  good  men." 

Burr  also  declared  to  Meade,  who  wrote  January  13, 
1807,  to  Dearborn,3  that  his  designs  were  in  no  way 
hostile  to  the  laws  or  government  of  the  United  States ; 
that  rumors  against  his  patriotism  were  false;  that  he 
was  bound  for  the  Washita  lands,  and  that  his  bateaux 
were  mere  vehicles  for  emigration,  hinting  that  any 
attempt  to  molest  them  might  be  resisted.  Comfort 

lAnnals  of  Congress,  1807-08,  p.  683. 
'Parton's  Burr,  i.,  88. 

'Meade  to  Dearborn,  January  13,  1807;  National  Intelligencer, 
February  11,  1807. 


THE    EXPEDITION  263 

Tyler  gave  a  brief  account  of  the  voyage  and  the  recep 
tion  tendered  them  i1 — 

"At  the  mouth  of  the  Cumberland  I  met  Colonel  Burr, 
expecting  to  proceed  on  with  him  to  our  intended  settle 
ment,  but  to  my  chagrin,  the  approach  of  Colonel  Burr 
[produced]  the  most  terrible  confusion  and  alarm — hun 
dreds  under  arms  have  turned  out  to  meet  him,  and  about 
fifty  unarmed,  defenceless,  and  peaceable  fellow  citizens, 
of  whom  I  have  the  misfortune  to  be  one.  Conscious  of 
the  purity  of  my  intentions,  [I]  hope  the  suspicions  will 
not  rest  on  me  or  my  friends." 

This  general  recourse  to  arms  spread  also  to  West 
Florida.  December  2ist,  when  the  danger  appeared 
imminent,  Grand  Pre  called  together  the  civil  and  mili 
tary  officers,  explaining  the  serious  complications  which 
were  likely  to  arise  as  the  neighboring  States  were 
reported  to  be  in  arms  against  Louisiana  and  the  do 
minions  of  his  Majesty.  He  urged  the  organization 
of  the  militia  and  other  precautions.2  Governor  Folch 
marched  from  Pensacola  with  three  hundred  soldiers 
for  Baton  Rouge,  which  he  reached,  having  been  re 
fused  by  Claiborne  passage  across  the  Territory  of 
Orleans,  only  at  the  moment  Burr  halted  at  Bayou 
Pierre.  February  I5th,  Folch  related  some  of  the 
events  which  had  transpired  :3— 

"The  conspiracy,  having  its  origin  in  the  States  of  Ken 
tucky,  Tennessee,  and  Cumberland,  with  Colonel  Aaron 
Burr,  ex-Vice-President  of  the  United  States,  at  its  head,, 
has  been  an  active  force  since  the  middle  of  last  Novem 
ber.  In  order  better  to  watch  it  I  moved  to  Mobile. 

1Letters  in  Relation. 
*  Orleans  Gazette,  January  9,  1807. 

'Folch  to  Iturrigaray,  February  15,  1807;  MSS.  Mexican 
Archives. 


264  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

Shortly  after  my  arrival,  I  learned  the  plot  of  the  incen 
diaries.  .  .  .  After  knowing  the  chief  object,  I  could 
not  understand  the  means  for  its  achievement,  without 
which  knowledge  I  could  not  take  my  measures  to  secure 
the  possessions  of  the  King.  December  ist,  however,  I 
learned  that  Burr  had  selected  the  mouth  of  the  Cumber 
land  as  the  point  for  the  reunion  of  his  forces, 
that  Baton  Rouge  was  the  first  point  proposed  for  attack. 
I  therefore  withdrew  three  hundred  men  from  the  garri 
sons  of  Pensacola  and  Mobile  for  its  defense." 

It  is  most  significant  that  as  early  as  October 
ist,  while  Burr  was  still  busy  with  preliminaries  and 
before  Wilkinson,  according  to  his  story,  knew  of  the 
plot,  this  Spaniard  should  have  reported  it  hostile  to 
his  country,  and  that  so  late  as  February  15,  1807,  he 
had  not  modified  his  opinion. 

Meanwhile,  on  the  Coffee  House  book  in  New 
Orleans,  which  contained  many  entries  of  note,  was 
written  January  2 ist:  "General  Wilkinson  received  an 
express  last  night  by  which  he  was  positively  informed 
that  Colonel  Burr  was  at  Bayou  Pierre."  It  was  also 
rumored  that  Colonel  Claiborne  and  Captain  Scott, 
with  three  hundred  militia,  had  gone  in  pursuit  of  him. 
Reports  were  conflicting.  "Those  at  the  head  of  affairs 
(we  hope  from  motives  of  public  safety)  maintain  the 
most  profound  silence,"  l  said  the  Gazette.  Claiborne 
and  Wilkinson  at  once  addressed  a  joint  letter  to  the 
governor  of  Mississippi  :* — 

"Understanding  that  Aaron  Burr  has  taken  post  within 
the  territory  over  which  you  preside,  we  cannot  but  ex 
press  our  solicitude,  lest  his  pretensions  to  innocence,  and 

^Orleans  Gazette,  January  23,  1807. 
2Gayarre,  iv.,  177. 


THE    EXPEDITION  265 

the  arts  which  he  may  employ  to  delude  and  seduce  our* 
fellow  citizens  from  their  duty  to  their  country ,  may  be 
partially  successful.  We  rely  with  confidence  on  your 
exertions  to  seize  the  arch-conspirator,  and  having  done 
so,  permit  us  to  suggest  for  your  consideration  the  ex 
pediency  of  placing  him  without  delay  on  board  one  of 
our  armed  vessels  in  the  river,  with  an  order  to  the  officers 
to  descend  with  him  to  this  city.  Otherwise,  if  his  fol 
lowers  are  numerous,  as  they  are  represented  to  be,  it  is 
probable  it  may  not  be  in  your  power  to  bring  him  to  trial. 
We  take  this  occasion  to  advise  you  confidentially  to  keep 
a  strict  eye  upon  the  Spaniards.  Governor  Folch  is  to 
proceed  to  Baton  Rouge  with  four  hundred  men." 

This  advice  was  as  unnecessary  as  it  was  a  palpable 
attempt  to  keep  up  a  show  of  uneasiness;  Meade  had 
already  acted  with  promptitude  and  energy.  December 
2Oth  he  had  prorogued  the  Legislature; the  twenty-third 
appeared  his  warning  against  the  conspiracy  "directed 
by  men  of  profound  intrigue  for  the  aggrandizement  of 
themselves  and  their  minions,  to  the  oppression  of  the 
great  mass  of  the  people,  whom  they  are  endeavoring  to 
dupe  and  inveigle."  Christmas  Day  W.  B.  Shields, 
aide-de-camp  to  the  Governor,  issued  a  general  call  for 
mustering  the  First,  Second,  Fourth,  and  Fifth  regi 
ments  of  militia.  The  Second  and  Fourth  regiments 
quickly  responded  to  the  orders  of  their  regimental  and 
company  officers,  and  were  ready  to  march  at  the  mo 
ment  of  Burr's  landing  at  Bayou  Pierre.  Despite  the 
fact  that  Burr  had  promptly  written  Meade  avowing 
his  "innocence  of  the  charges  which  rumor  and  public 
apprehension  had  announced  against  him,"  and  solicit 
ing  his  aid  in  appeasing  the  fears  the  approach  of  the 
expedition  had  begotten,1  the  Governor  set  the  machin- 

*Meade  to  Jefferson;  Jefferson  MSS. 


266  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

ery  in  motion  which  was  at  last  to  put  an  end  to  the 
mysterious  business. 

Tradition  has  it  that  only  now  Burr  learned  of  his 
betrayal  —  read  in  a  newspaper  at  Judge  Bruin's  his 
letter  of  July  2Qth  !  *  But  tradition  is  wrong.  Burr 
knew  that  Wilkinson  had  made  an  agreement  with  the 
Spaniards;  and  knew  prior  to  leaving  Tennessee  that 
he  had  occupied  New  Orleans.  Captain  Daniel  Bissell 
testified  that  Burr  related  to  him  at  Fort  Massac  "that 
'General  Wilkinson  had  made  a  compromise  with  the 
Spaniards.  Burr  said  he  was  very  sorry  for  it,  and  that 
General  Wilkinson  ought  to  have  fought  them." 
Clearly  Burr  was  unfamiliar  with  the  details  of  the 
Sabine  campaign,  but  he  knew  one  thing  beyond  doubt, 
v  whatever  his  relations  had  been  with  Wilkinson,  that 
no  further  cooperation  was  to  be  expected  —  his  silence 
had  been  too  profound.  He  was  of  course  ignorant  of 
the  General's  denunciations  ;  of  the  state  of  mind  of  the 
inhabitants  in  the  lower  country  ;  but  it  is  folly  to  assert 
that  he  continued  his  voyage  in  the  belief  that  Wilkin 
son  was  only  awaiting  his  coming  to  precipitate  the 
revolution. 

As  soon  as  it  was  possible,  a  detachment  of  militia 
three  hundred  and  seventy-five  strong  was  sent  up  the 
river  from  Natchez  and  posted  at  the  mouth  of  Cole's 
Creek  to  prevent  the  egress  of  Burr's  flotilla.  Meade 
and  his  staff  marched  up  the  river  by  land,  and  on  the 
sixteenth  Poindexter,  the  United  States  attorney  for 


(iii.,  325)  relates  this  story,  which  has  become  classic. 
He  adds:  "From  the  moment  Burr  saw  himself  denounced  by 
Wilkinson,  his  only  hope  was  to  escape." 
1  Annals  of  Congress,  2807-08,  p.  637. 


THE    EXPEDITION  267 

Mississippi,  and  Shields,  the  Governor's  aide,  were  sent 
to  visit  Burr.  They  were  cordially  received.  Major 
Shields  presented  a  letter  from  the  Governor,  in  which 
he  attributed  to  Burr  hostile  intentions  against  the  ter 
ritory  of  the  United  States.  Burr  ridiculed  the  idea, 
saying  that  he  would  have  gone  to  Natchez  to  see  the 
Governor  had  it  not  been  for  reports  abroad  and  his 
fear  of  assassination.  He  pointed  to  his  boats,  and 
asked  if  there  was  anything  warlike  in  their  appearance. 
When  told  that  the  militia  of  the  territory  had  orders 
to  stop  him,  he  replied  that  he  was  willing  to  submit  to 
the  civil  authorities.  An  interview  with  Governor 
Meade  was  arranged  for  the  next  day,  and  the  follow 
ing  guarantee  was  signed  by  Burr,  Shields,  and  Poin- 
dexter  i1— 

"The  Hon.Cowles  Meade,  acting  Governor  of  the  Mis 
sissippi  Territory,  with  a  view  to  restore  public  tranquil 
lity,  proposes  to  Aaron  Burr  as  follows  :  That  an  interview 
shall  take  place  between  them  at  the  house  of  Thomas 
Calvit,  on  Cole's  Creek,  at  two  o'clock  to-morrow.  The 
said  Cowles  Meade  pledges  himself  to  protect  the  said 
Aaron  Burr  during  his  stay  in  the  Territory,  and  that  he 
shall  be  returned  to  his  present  position  in  a  suitable  man 
ner  as  soon  after  the  interview  as  he  may  please — but  in 
the  meantime  there  shall  be  no  restraint  on  his  person,  no 
violence  or  molestation  to  his  boats  or  people,  and  that  the 
militia  of  the  district  shall  not,  until  the  return  of  the  said 
Aaron  Burr,  approach  nearer  his  present  quarters  than 
the  mouth  of  Cole's  Creek.  Aaron  Burr  on  his  part  en 
gages  that  in  the  meantime  no  violence  or  injury  shall  be 
offered  by  any  of  his  people  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  Mis 
sissippi  Territory,  that  they  shall  keep  the  peace,  and  not 
infringe  any  law  of  the  United  States  or  either  of  the 
Territories." 

^Orleans  Gazette,  January  30,  1807. 


268  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

Early  next  morning  Colonel  Burr  was  rowed  down 
from  his  camp.  He  alighted  and  was  escorted  by 
a  company  of  dragoons  to  Thomas  Calvit's  place,1 
whither  Meade  had  come  the  previous  evening.  The 
interview  was  uneventful  and  resulted — 

"in  a  voluntary  submission  on  the  part  of  Colonel  Burr  to 
the  civil  authorities  of  the  Territory,  and  also  in  a  sur 
render  of  whatever  military  apparatus  might  be  found  on 
board  the  boats  under  his  direction ;  a  committee  was  im 
mediately  appointed  to  make  the  necessary  examination, 
and  report  forthwith  to  the  Governor  the  number  and 
description  of  such  military  stores  as  they  might  discover 
on  board  said  boats."2 

The  ensuing  day,  leaving  behind  his  associates,  who 
were  shortly  to  move  down  the  river  to  a  point  near 
Natchez,  Burr  rode  with  Shields  and  Poindexter  to  the 
town  of  Washington,  the  capital  of  the  Territory, 
where  he  came  before  Judge  Rodney,  who  bound  him 
over  in  the  sum  of  $5,000  to  await  the  action  of  the 
grand  jury.  Colonel  Benijah  Osmun  and  Lyman  Hard 
ing  acted  as  sureties.  At  the  same  time  Colonel  Fitz- 
patrick,  with  three  officers  and  a  squad  of  men,  was 
vainly  searching  the  boats  for  accoutrements,  muni 
tions  and  arms  of  war.  Meade  thus  summarized  the 
situation  to  the  Government: 

"Then,  Sir,  this  mighty  alarm,  with  all  its  exaggera- 
tions,  has  eventuated  in  nine  boats  and  one  hundred  men, 
and  the  major  part  of  these  are  boys,  or  young  men  just 
from  school.  Many  of  their  depositions  have  been  taken 
before  Judge  Rodney,  but  they  bespeak  ignorance  of  the 

^Orleans  Gazette,  January  27,  1807;  Claiborne's  Mississippi, 
p.  270. 

'Orleans  Gazette,  January  30,  1807. 


THE    EXPEDITION  269 

views  or  designs  of  the  colonel.  I  believe  them  really 
ignorant  and  deluded.  I  believe  that  they  are  really  the 
dupes  of  stratagem,  if  the  asseverations  of  Generals  Eaton 
and  Wilkinson  are  to  be  accredited." 

Meade  was  looking  squarely  at  the  question  from  a 
vantage  point  not  to  be  gainsaid.  Here  at  the  collapse, 
with  Burr  a  civil  prisoner,  his  followers  disheartened 
and  dispersed,  to  confess  that  no  man  could  be  found 
to  give  warrant  to  their  fears  was,  in  very  truth,  most 
lamentable.  In  any  case  could  the  adventurers  have 
been  "dupes  of  stratagem?  "  Had  three  score  of  men 
united  with  no  purpose  in  view  ?  If  treasonable,  when 
pardons  and  even  rewards  were  freely  offered  those 
who  knew  of  the  plot  and  who  were  confessed  to  have 
held  in  abhorrence  the  name  of  traitor,  is  it  not  reason 
able  to  suppose  that  some  could  have  been  found  to  fix 
the  crime  indelibly?  Wilkinson  plied  his  energies  in 
such  a  quest,  but  James  Knox,  Lindsey,  and  Dunbaugh 
were  the  best  he  could  get,  while  only  the  last,  simple- 
minded  and  ignorant,  advertised  as  a  deserter  and  fear 
ful  of  the  penalties,  became  a  willing  tool. 

January  3Oth,  Graham,  the  plodding,  nerveless 
agent  of  the  Government,  reached  the  town  of  Wash 
ington,  lying  amid  the  rolling  hills  six  miles  east  of 
Natchez.  He  called  on  Burr  hoping  to  elicit  some 
statement,  only  to  be  assured,  as  Graham  wrote  Madi 
son,  that  no  word  of  his  would  avail  anything  since  he 
was  accused  before  the  court.  He  avowed,  however, 
that  all  his  troubles  had  been  caused  by  the  machina 
tions  of  his  enemies,  and  that  their  assertions  were  not 
supported  by  facts.1  At  Richmond,  Graham,  who, 

Graham  to  Madison,  February  8,  1807;  Letters  in  Relation. 


270  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

because  of  his  services,  had  been  appointed  to  the  chief 
clerkship  in  the  State  Department,  related  that  Burr 
at  this  meeting  ''seemed  disposed  to  ridicule  the  idea  of 
his  bringing  about  a  separation  of  the  Union  by  physi 
cal  force;  that  it  was  to  be  produced  by  moral  not 
physical  causes."  He  also  spoke  "of  the  Washita 
settlement.  I  believe  he  told  me,"  continued  Graham,1 
"that  he  should  send  his  people  there,  but  did  not  know 
whether  he  should  venture  into  the  territory  himself; 
intimating,  as  I  thought,  an  apprehension  of  General 
Wilkinson." 

Such  was  the  inglorious  end  of  the  expedition. 
Burr's  followers  still  clung  tenaciously  to  the  boats  and 
made  friends,  while  awaiting  the  return  of  their  leader 
in  whom  they  never  lost  confidence.  That  he  would 
repudiate  the  gross  charge  of  treason  they  never 
doubted;  nor  more  doubted  that  they  would  yet  be 
freed  from  their  present  predicament  and  eventually 
arrive  at  the  goal  of  their  ambition.  They  little  knew 
what  was  in  store  for  them. 

1 Annals  of  Congress,  1807-08,  p.  489. 


CHAPTER    X. 

Burr's   Trial  in  Mississippi. 
* 

FOR  a  fortnight  after  his  surrender  at  Bayou 
Pierre,  while  awaiting  trial,  Aaron  Burr  made 
the  most  of  his  liberty.  He  had  promised  to  re 
main  in  the  Territory  until  everything  was  cleared  up 
to  the  satisfaction  of  the  most  exacting.  He  would  then 
remove  to  his  lands.  The  excitement  which  had  been 
occasioned  by  his  arrival  soon  subsided  and  left  the 
people  his  friends.  Moreover,  his  cause  was  abetted  by 
the  accounts  rendered  by  the  associates,  who  unequivo 
cally  asserted  the  innocence  of  their  designs  toward  the 
United  States.  Burr  also  talked  eloquently  of  his 
wrongs,  and  won  the  sympathy  of  the  community. 

"He  became  the  guest,"  says  Claiborne,1  "of  Colonel 
Benijah  Osmun,  a  wealthy  planter  residing  in  the  vicinity. 
He  was  a  bachelor  and  had  been  an  officer  in  the  Jersey 
line,  and  intimate  with  Burr.  He  was  a  Federalist.  Near 
by  Colonel  Osmun  resided  another  military  friend  of 
similar  political  opinion,  the  veteran  Major  Isaac  Guion, 
and  with  these  two,  and  other  influential  gentlemen,  he 
had  daily  consultations.  No  sterner  and  truer  patriots 
lived  than  these  two  veteran  soldiers,  and  they  reposed 
unshaken  faith  in  the  friend  whom  they  had  seen  so  often 
tested  in  the  'time  that  tried  men's  souls/  " 

X 

Monday,  February  2,  1807,  with  Judges  Rodney 

and  Bruin  on  the  bench,  an  adjourned  session  of  the 

Orleans  Gazette,  February  6,  1807;  Claiborne's  Mississippi, 
p.  280. 

271 


272  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

supreme  court  of  the  Mississippi  Territory  was  held  in 
the  town  of  Washington,  before  which  Aaron  Burr 
was  recognized  to  appear  to  answer  such  bill  of  indict 
ment  as  might  then  and  there  be  exhibited  against  him. 
The  accused  was  present  and  surrounded  by  a  con 
course  of  friends.  As  soon  as  the  grand  jury  was 
impaneled  Mr.  Poindexter,  the  United  States  attor 
ney,  after  an  examination  of  the  depositions  submitted 
by  the  court,  moved  its  discharge.  He  argued  that  he 
found  no  evidence  which  brought  the  offenses  charged 
against  Colonel  Burr  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
courts  of  Mississippi  Territory ;  and  furthermore,  that 
the  supreme  court  of  the  Territory  was  a  court  of  appeal 
and  not  a  court  of  original  jurisdiction.  It  could, 
therefore,  take  no  cognizance  of  the  cause.  The  motion 
was  overruled,  however,  and  the  grand  jury  began  its 
work.  The  next  day  to  the  astonishment  of  the  judges 
it  filed  in  and  made  the  following  report  :l— 

"The  grand  jury  of  the  Mississippi  Territory,  on  a  due 
investigation  of  the  evidence  brought  before  them,  are  of 
the  opinion  that  Aaron  Burr  has  not  been  guilty  of  any 
crime  or  misdemeanor  against  the  laws  of  the  United 
States  or  of  this  Territory,  or  given  any  just  occasion 
for  alarm  or  inquietude  to  the  good  people  of  this  Terri 
tory.  The  grand  jury  present  as  a  grievance,  the  late 
military  expedition  unnecessarily  as  they  conceive,  fitted 
out  against  the  person  and  property  of  said  Aaron  Burr, 
where  no  resistance  has  been  made  to  the  ordinary  civil 
authorities.  The  grand  jury  also  present  as  highly  de 
rogatory  to  the  dignity  of  this  Government,  the  armistice 
(so-called)  concluded  between  the  Secretary,  acting  as 
Governor,  and  the  said  Aaron  Burr.  The  grand  jury  also 

^Orleans  Gazette,  February  20,  1807;  Claiborne's  Mississippi, 
p.  284.  Harry  Toulmin  to  P.  P.  Schuyler,  February  7,  1807; 
Letters  in  Relation. 


BURR'S  TRIAL  IN  MISSISSIPPI      273 

present  as  a  grievance,  destructive  of  personal  liberty,  the 
late  military  arrests  made  without  warrant,  and  as  they 
conceive,  without  other  lawful  authority:  and  they  do 
seriously  regret  that  so  much  cause  should  be  given  to 
the  enemies  of  our  glorious  Constitution,  to  rejoice  in 
such  measures  being  adopted  in  a  neighboring  Territory, 
and  if  sanctioned  by  the  Executive  of  our  country,  must 
sap  the  vitals  of  our  political  existence,  and  crumble  this 
glorious  fabric  into  the  dust." 

Historically  considered,  this  return  is  a  most  un 
compromising  document.  For  months  the  Aaron  Burr 
enterprise  had  been  almost  the  sole  topic  of  conversa 
tion;  it  had  assumed  various  characters  in  the  public 
mind,  but  chiefly  through  the  agency  of  Wilkinson, 
Eaton,  and  Jefferson  it  had  come  to  be  condemned  as 
most  dangerous  and  treasonable.  Such,  indeed,  it  had 
been  believed  to  be  by  the  militia  of  Mississippi  when 
they  volunteered;  and  such  it  had  been  believed  to  be 
by  the  Legislature  of  the  Territory  when  it  declared  its 
unfeigned  allegiance  to  the  Constitution.  Two  weeks 
intervened  between  Burr's  surrender  and  the  day  set 
for  his  examination.  This  ought  to  have  allowed  time 
for  the  collection  of  all  the  evidence,  and  Judge  Rod 
ney,  according  to  Meade,  had  taken  many  affidavits. 
How,  then,  account  for  the  report  ?  Adams  attributes  it 
to  sympathy  in  Burr's  designs,1  and  says  that  the  very 
militia  that  stopped  him  was  half  inclined  to  join  his 
expedition,  and  that  a  score  of  civil  and  military  offi 
cials  alone  prevented  Burr  from  reaching  New  Orleans ! 
But  in  truth  had  they  sympathized  with  him,  knowing 
that  he  planned  the  extension  of  an  empire  over  the 
West,  is  it  to  be  supposed  that  a  corporal's  guard  of 

history  of  the  United  States,  Hi.,  326- 


r 


274  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

patriots  could  have  stayed  the  revolution?  Contrari 
wise,  was  not  their  sympathy  enlisted  because  they  now 
knew  him  to  be  armed  against  the  Spaniards?  And 
could  not  the  report  of  the  grand  jury  have  been  addi 
tional  proof  of  their  loyalty?  The  contradiction  lies 
not  in  the  conduct  of  the  people,  but  in  the  story  which 
has  been  transmitted  to  us. 

Wednesday  afternoon,  the  fourth  of  February,  the 
grand  jury  was  dismissed,  whereupon  Burr  demanded 
release  from  his  recognizance.  This  Rodney  refused 
to  grant,  and  bound  him  over  to  appear  from  day  to 
day,  which  was  an  unheard-of  proceeding.  Burr  had 
given  bond  to  await  an  investigation.  No  indictment 
had  been  found ;  therefore,  from  the  nature  of  the  case, 
his  recognition  was  null  and  void.  Already  the  rumor 
had  spread  that  Governor  Williams,  who  had  returned 
at  this  juncture  from  a  visit  to  North  Carolina  and  had 
superseded  Meade,  intended  to  seize  Burr  the  moment 
he  was  discharged  by  the  judicial  authority;1  and  the 
report  was  current  that  a  military  patrol  was  coming 
up  from  New  Orleans  with  the  same  purpose  in  view. 

It  would  be  an  interesting  study  to  follow  the  de 
vices  adopted  by  Wilkinson  in  his  endeavor  to  secure 
the  chief  figure  in  the  closing  act  of  this  involved 
drama.  Dr.  Carmichael,  Lieutenant  Peter,  Lieutenant 
Jones,  and  Captain  Shaw  of  the  navy,  Colonel  McKee, 
and  three  officers  in  disguise  were  sent  at  various  times 
by  the  General  to  capture  Burr  and  his  lieutenants.2  To 
Silas  Dinsmore  he  said  as  early  as  December  4,  1806 : 

^Orleans  Gazette,  February  20,  1807. 

*  Annals  of  Congress,  1807-08,  pp.  492,  528,  643. 


BURR'S  TRIAL  IN  MISSISSIPPI      275 

"To  cut  off  the  two  principal  leaders,  would  in  my 
opinion  be  to  discomfit  the  sinister  design,  and  gain 
time  for  preparation  to  resist  successfully  the  baneful 
plot.  ...  If  you  fail  your  expenses  will  be  paid.  If 
you  succeed  I  pledge  the  government  to  you  for  five 
thousand  dollars."1  In  what  way  could  Dinsmore  have 
"cut  off"  the  leaders?  Clearly  Wilkinson  hoped  for 
one  of  two  things — resistance  on  the  part  of  the  asso 
ciates,  or  the  death  of  Burr.  Had  his  men  defied  the 
troops,  or  had  Burr  been  slain  while  resisting  a  military 
process,  the  charge  of  treason  would  have  been  stamped 
in  blood  and  Wilkinson's  cause  sanctified.  Burr  was 
not  ignorant  of  the  schemes  of  the  tyrant  of  New  Or 
leans;  he  was  convinced,  too,  that  his  personal  safety 
depended  on  escaping  the  power  of  the  General,  who,  it 
has  been  well  said,  might  have  brought  him  at  once  to 
a  drum-head  court-martial,  and  who  had  every  motive 
to  pursue  such  a  course;  who  had  indeed  offered  five 
thousand  dollars  for  his  life. 

The  matter  was  thoroughly  canvassed  with  Osmun 
and  other  confidential  friends,  and  under  the  circum 
stances  it  was  decided  that  Burr  should  go  into  hiding 
for  a  time  to  await  developments.  On  the  sixth  Gov 
ernor  Williams  proclaimed  that  Aaron  Burr,  bound  in 
the  sum  of  five  thousand  dollars  to  appear  before  the 
supreme  court  of  the  Territory,  had  forfeited  his  bond 
and  fled ;  and  offered  accordingly  for  his  apprehension 
a  reward  of  two  thousand  dollars.2  Meantime  Burr 

'Wilkinson  to  Dinsmore,  December  4,  1806 ;  Letters  in  Rela- 

*Orleans  Gazette,  February  13,  1807;  Burr  to  Williams,  Feb 
ruary  12,  1807;  Letters  in  Relation. 


276  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

had  Written  the  Governor  saying  that  because  of  the 
"vindictive  temper  and  unprincipled  conduct  of  Judge 
'  Rodney  he  withdrew  for  the  present  from  the  public," 
but  that  he  continued  ready  to  submit  to  the  civil  law 
when  he  could  be  assured  the  rights  of  a  citizen.  On 
the  twelfth,  replying  to  the  Governor's  proclamation 
and  offer  of  reward,  Burr  wrote  from  his  hiding  place 
to  Williams  that  it  was  unworthy  of  him  to  lend  his 
name  to  a  falsehood,  that  the  recognition  he  gave  was 
to  appear  in  case  an  indictment  was  found — not  other 
wise. 

"The  judicial  form,"  he  continued,1  "was  agreed  to  by 
Judge  Rodney  after  nearly  an  hour's  discussion  between 
Bruin,  Harding,  and  myself;  drawn  up  at  his  request  by 
Mr.  Harding,  and  signed  by  the  judge  in  our  presence 
and  that  of  Colonel  Osmun,  and  will  be  found  in  the  hand 
writing  of  Mr.  Harding,  so  signed  unless  for  fraudulent 
purposes  the  judge  should  have  destroyed  it.  If  he  shall 
deny  these  facts,  he  must  be  lost  to  shame  as  to  principle. 
If  he  shall  admit  them  or  they  shall  be  otherwise  estab 
lished  to  your  satisfaction,  it  is  hoped  that  you  will  feel  it 
to  be  your  duty  by  a  public  manifesto  to  cancel  your 
proclamation  and  to  acknowledge  the  error  on  which  it 
has  been  founded." 

Williams  replied,  "I  can  only  say  that  from  the 
judicial  proceedings  in  this  Territory  you  cannot  be 
considered  in  any  other  light  than  as  a  fugitive  from 
the  laws  of  your  country."2 

Burr  now  despaired  of  relief.  Judge  Rodney's  ille 
gal  acts  were  reinforced  by  the  Executive  of  the  Terri- 

*Liberty  Hall,  April  21,  1807. 
"Williams  to  Burr;  Letters  in  Relation. 


BURR'S  TRIAL  IN  MISSISSIPPI      277 

tory,  while  the  ever-pressing  danger  at  New  Orleans 
urged  a  speedy  escape  from  the  country.  Once  more 
he  visited  the  disheartened  men  who  remained  with  the 
boats  which  were  anchored  a  short  distance  above 
Natchez.  In  the  words  of  a  State  witness  i1— 

"He  said  that  what  property  there  was  the  men  might 
sell,  and  make  the  most  they  could  of;  and  if  there  was 
not  enough  to  satisfy  them,  they  might  go  to  the  Washita 
lands,  and  take  up  what  land  they  wanted,  and  go  to  work 
upon  it.  The  boats  and  provisions  were  taken  to  Natchez, 
and  part  of  them  sold,  and  part  of  the  provisions  stored 
which  would  not  readily  sell,  and  the  money  divided 
among  the  men." 

It  was  with  a  heavy  heart  that  the  sometime  Vice- 
President  of  the  United  States  confessed  to  his  fol 
lowers,  "that  he  stood  his  trial  and  was  acquitted ;  but 
that  they  were  going  to  take  him  again,  and  that  he  was 
going  to  flee  from  oppression."2  It  has  been  asserted 
over  and  over  again  that  his  flight  was  a  proof  of  guilt. 
The  answer  is  that  Burr  never  attempted  to  avoid 
an  investigation  by  the  legal  authorities.  The  excesses 
of  Wilkinson  had  reached  such  appalling  extremes,  it 
is  no  wonder  that  Burr  feared  the  rattle  of  military 
chains,  or  even  death.  His  intimate  friends,  the  men  of 
wealth  and  influence  of  the  countryside,  were  of  the 
opinion  that  safety  lay  only  in  flight.  So,  mounted  on 
Colonel  Osmun's  fleetest  horse  and  accompanied  by 
Chester  Ashley  he  set  out  from  his  hiding  place  near 
the  home  of  the  Colonel  who  had  so  kindly  befriended 
him.  Tradition  has  it  that  he  took  leave  last  of  Mada- 

*Annals  of  Congress,  1807-08,  p.  478. 
'Ibid. 


278  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

line,  who  lived  in  a  cottage  nearby  his  retreat.  During 
his  short  stay  of  three  weeks  in  Mississippi  he  had  be 
come  enamored  of  her,  whom  Claiborne  pronounced  "a 
miracle  of  beauty."  Burr's  passion  was  returned,  and 
only  from  Paris  did  he  write  releasing  her  from  a 
promise  of  marriage.  Fiction  one  may  say,  but  it  is 
vouched  for  by  the  historian  of  Mississippi — and  at 
least  it  may  be  admitted  as  an  interlude  in  the  desolate 
waste  of  blighted  hopes  which  spread  before  him  who 
had  for  four  years  been  Vice-President  of  the  Republic. 
Disguised,  Wilkinson  tells  us,  in  "an  old  blanket 
coat  begirt  with  a  leathern  strap,  to  which  a  tin  cup 
was  suspended  on  the  left  and  a  scalping  knife  on  the 
right,"  Burr  disappeared.  It  is  generally  asserted  that 
he  meant  to  seek  shelter  within  the  Spanish  lines;  but 
such  a  course  could  have  been  chosen  only  in  despera 
tion — and  that  point  Burr  never  reached  in  his  long 
life  of  successes  and  failures.  Wilkinson  was  of  the 
opinion  that  "Burr's  destination  was  France  beyond  all 
doubt."1  In  any  case,  certain  it  is  he  preferred  any 
refuge  to  New  Orleans ;  he  knew  that  one  who  could  act 
as  Wilkinson  had  not  yet  exhausted  his  store  of  villain 
ies.  Whatever  Burr's  plans  were  the  elements  conspired 
to  defeat  him ;  the  heavy  winter  rains  had  swollen  the 
streams  so  that  his  course  had  to  be  changed.  They 
were  obliged  late  at  night,  the  eighteenth  day  of  Febru 
ary,  to  pass  through  the  county  seat  of  Washington 
County,  where  inquiries  were  made  of  one  Nicholas 
Perkins  as  to  the  route  to  Colonel  Hinson's.  When 
the  belated  travelers  had  gone,  Perkins,  who  had  sus- 

^ilkinson  to  Jefferson,  March  20,  1807;  Letters  in  Relation. 


BURR'S  TRIAL  IN  MISSISSIPPI      279 

pected  that  one  of .  the  horsemen  was  Burr,  reported 
the  matter  to  Sheriff  Brightwell.  The  two  followed  to 
Hinson's  where  suspicion  became  so  strong  that  Per 
kins  rode  to  Fort  Stoddert  to  enlist  Lieutenant  Gaines 
in  the  pursuit.  With  four  soldiers  he  joined  the  informer 
and  they  rode  back  the  next  morning  to  intercept  the 
fugitives.  At  an  early  hour,  within  two  or  three  miles 
of  Hinson's  they  encountered  Burr,  Ashley  and  the 
sheriff.  Gaines  demanded  in  the  name  of  the  Govern 
ment  of  the  United  States  whether  this  were  Colonel 
Burr.  Burr  readily  admitted  his  identity,  whereupon 
he  was  "arrested"  and  taken  to  Fort  Stoddert,1  where 
preparations  were  carefully  made  to  convey  him  to 
Washington. 

The  presence  of  Burr  in  the  fort  gave  its  com 
mander  some  uneasiness.  In  a  letter  to  Wilkinson 
Gaines  stated  that  Ashley  had  not  been  arrested,  and 
that  he  feared  he  would  return  with  a  force  to  retake 
Burr. 

"They  will  assuredly  find  the  inhabitants,"  said 
Gaines,2  "such  as  they  could  wish.  Ashley  has  made  a 
wonderful  effect  on  many  of  them — the  plans  of  Burr  are 
now  spoken  of  in  terms  of  approbation,  and  Burr  in  terms 
of  sympathy  and  regard.  I  am  convinced  if  Burr  had 
remained  here  a  week  longer  the  consequences  would  have 
been  of  the  most  serious  nature.  Burr  frequently,  when 
on  the  subject  of  the  Spanish  aggressions,  observed :  'And 
yet  my  great  offense  and  the  only  one  laid  to  my  charge 
was  a  design  to  give  you  the  Floridas/  ' 

The  residents  along  the  Tombigbee  harshly  criti- 

'Nicholas  Perkins  to  C.  A.  Rodney;  manuscript  statement  of 
the  exploit  by  Nicholas  Perkins,  in  Tennessee  Historical  Society 
collection. 

2Gaines  to  Wilkinson,  March  4,  1807;  Jefferson  MSS. 


28o  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

cised  Gaines  for  the  manner  in  which  he  arrested  Burr. 
The  feelings  of  the  community  were  expressed  in  a 
memorial  to  the  Government,  and  the  young  lieutenant 
thought  it  advisable  to  deny  to  Jefferson  that  he  had  ar 
rested  Burr  "militarily."  He  was  inclined  to  shift  the 
burden  on  Perkins,1  who  at  that  very  moment  was  in 
Washington  with  $3,331  in  his  pocket  as  a  reward  for 
bringing  Burr  safely  to  Richmond. 

At  Natchez  the  Burrites  were  received  with  unusual 
kindness — they  were  no  longer  suspected  of  being  des 
perate  characters,  ripe  for  fratricidal  strife.  Says  Clai- 
borne,  who  was  almost  an  eye  witness  :2 — 

"Most  of  his  followers  were  young  men,  innocent  of 
any  hostile  intention  against  government,  innocent  of  the 
object  of  their  leader,  whom  they  followed  for  the  mere 
love  of  adventure.  They  dispersed  themselves  through 
the  territory  and  supplied  it  with  school  masters,  singing 
masters,  dancing  masters,  clerks,  tavern  keepers,  and 
doctors." 

Singularly  enough,  Graham,  after  his  long  pursuit 
of  Burr  even  as  far  as  the  town  of  Washington,  was 
compelled  to  bear  strange  witness : 

"I  am  sorry  to  say,"  he  wrote  February  8th  to  Madi 
son,8  "that  since  my  arrival  in  this  Territory  I  have  met 
with  many  people  who  either  openly  or  indirectly  attack 
the  government  for  not  countenancing  Colonel  Burr  in 
the  invasion  of  Mexico,  for  it  is  generally  considered  here 
that  that  was  his  object.  I  am  well  persuaded  that  most 
of  his  followers  were  of  this  opinion." 

However  innocent  the  people  thought  the  asso- 

aGaines  to  Jefferson,  July  23,  1807;  Jefferson  MSS. 

'Claiborne's  Mississippi,  p.  282. 

"Graham  to  Madison,  February  8,  1807;  Letters  in  Relation. 


BURR'S  TRIAL  IN  MISSISSIPPI      281 

ciates  of  Burr,  the  coterie  of  officers  of  the  govern 
ment  continued  to  harass  them.  About  the  time  of 
Burr's  disappearance  probably  sixty  of  his  followers 
and  friends  were  made  prisoners  in  Natchez.1  This 
wholesale  arrest  was  occasioned  by  the  discovery  of  a 
note  alleged  to  have  been  taken  from  the  cape  worn  by 
a  negro  boy.  The  note,  dated  February  ist,  and  said 
to  have  been  addressed  to  Tyler  and  Floyd,  ran  as  fol 
lows  :2 — 

"If  you  are  yet  together,  keep  together,  and  I  will  join 
you  to-morrow  night.  In  the  meantime,  put  all  your  arms 
in  perfect  order.  Ask  the  bearer  no  questions,  but  tell 
him  all  you  may  think  I  wish  to  know.  He  does  not  know 
that  this  is  from  me,  nor  where  I  am." 

This  was  a  malicious  fabrication ;  falsity  appears  on 
its  face — no  explanation,  no  original,  nobody  to  claim 
the  honor  of  its  interception.  Moreover,  the  impostor 
who  wrote  it  was  not  aware  that  the  trial  of  Burr  at  the 
town  of  Washington  had  not  yet  begun !  And  this  fact, 
too,  has  been  overlooked  by  some  of  those  who  lay  great 
stress  on  the  import  of  the  above  document.  In  the 
whole  affair  there  is  not  a  more  despicable  piece  of  testi 
mony,  unless,  indeed,  it  be  that  wherein  Dunbaugh 
swore  that  he  had  witnessed  in  the  dead  of  night  the 
sinking  by  Burr  of  his  chests  of  arms  in  the  Mississippi. 

Most  of  those  seized  in  Natchez  were  released  after 
a  few  days;  but  the  leaders  were  held  to  account. 
Floyd,  Ralston,  Tyler,  and  Blennerhassett  were 

^Annals  of  Congress,  1807-08,  p.  494. 

*Annals  of  Congress,  1807-08,  p.  589.  Mr.  Adams  says  (in., 
327)  that  the  above  note  was  the  last  word  of  Burr  to  those  he 
had  ruined. 


282  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

brought  before  Judge  Toulmin,  whom  Wilkinson  pro 
nounced  a  most  loyal  judge.  Blennerhassett  was  the 
first  examined,  and  although  the  judge  had  said  he 
thought  the  conspirators  might  be  tried  in  any  United 
States  court,  he  bound  him  over  to  that  of  Virginia, 
knowing  that  his  family  was  with  him  and  that  it 
meant  great  privation  and  inconvenience  for  him  to 
make  his  way  across  the  continent.  Toulmin's  osten 
sible  reason  for  his  action  was  that  a  prosecution  car 
ried  on  against  him  in  Mississippi  "must  of  necessity 

u  terminate  in  an  idle  parade."1  Floyd  and  Ralston 
wished  to  be  tried  in  Indiana,  where  they  lived ;  there 
fore  the  judge  assigned  them  to  the  courts  of  Missis 
sippi.  Anything  for  annoyance.  Tyler  was  to  have 
been  tried  February  1 5th,  and  that  day  Toulmin  wrote, 

'  "I  am  strongly  inclined  to  think  him  entirely  innocent." 
January  23d,  Tyler  had  avowed  to  Lieutenant  Stark 
that  he  was  conscious  of  the  purity  of  his  motives,  that 
he  respected  the  laws  and  government  of  the  United 
States,  and  that  treason  had  never  entered  his  mind. 
Floyd  had  been  an  honored  citizen  of  the  Northwest 
Territory,  and  now  that  he  was  accused  of  being  a 
traitor  Governor  Harrison  spoke  with  unhesitating 
frankness  in  his  favor : 

"I  have  been  intimately  acquainted  with  this  gentle 
man  for  six  years,"  the  Governor  wrote  to  the  President,* 
"and  I  can  truly  affirm  that  there  is  not  a  man  in  the  ter 
ritory  who  possesses  more  entirely  my  confidence  and 
esteem.  As  sheriff  of  the  county  in  which  he  resided, 
representative  in  the  legislature,  and  an  officer  in  the 

letter  dated  February  15,  1807;  Letters  in  Relation. 
'Tyler  to  Stark,  January  23,  1807;  Letters  in  Relation, 
'Harrison  to  Jefferson,  April  13,  1807;  Jefferson  MSS. 


BURR'S  TRIAL  IN  MISSISSIPPI      283 

militia  (in  which  he  held  the  rank  of  major),  his  conduct 
was  equally  honorable  to  himself  and  useful  to  his  fellow 
citizens,  nor  do  I  believe  there  is  any  man  who  possesses 
a  higher  sense  of  patriotism  and  more  devotion  to  the 
Constitution  of  his  country." 

While  the  unfortunate  filibusters  were  being 
disposed  of  by  Toulmin,  Louis  Kerr  and  Judge  James 
Workman,  two  of  Wilkinson's  suspected  traitors,  were, 
at  the  bar  of  the  United  States  court  in  Natchez.  March 
2d  Kerr  was  arraigned  on  a  charge  of  having  set 
on  foot  a  military  expedition  against  the  Spanish  pos 
sessions  in  America.  The  trial  lasted  two  days — the 
verdict  was,  "Not  Guilty."  Judge  Workman,  who  had 
been  compelled  to  resign  the  judgship  of  the  County 
court  of  Orleans  because  of  Wilkinson's  insults,  was 
charged  with  high  misdemeanor  in  having  planned  an 
expedition  for  the  conquest  of  Mexico.  Again  the  ver 
dict  was,  "Not  Guilty."1  Strange  to  say,  neither  was 
accused  of  treason.  The  result  could  not  have  been  dif 
ferent;  it  was  indeed  a  waste  of  time  to  attempt  the 
conviction  of  men  who  were  guilty  of  no  other  offense 
than  plotting  to  overrun  certain  provinces  of  New 
Spain.  Criminal  as  it  was,  and  is,  to  take  part  in  fili 
bustering  enterprises,  the  pioneer  of  a  century  ago  was 
disposed,  as  we  are  even  in  this  day,  to  overlook  any 
such  movement  so  long  as  an  enemy  is  injured. 

As  late  as  April,  Governor  Williams  inquired  what 
he  should  do  with  Tyler,  Ralston,  Floyd,  and  Blenner- 
hassett.  "I  do  not  know  that  we  can  do  anything  but 
direct  General  Wilkinson  to  receive  and  send  them  to 
any  place  where  the  judge  shall  decide  they  ought  to  be 

^Orleans  Gazette,  March  10,  1807. 


284  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

tried.  I  suppose  Blennerhassett  should  come  to  Rich 
mond."1  In  due  course  of  time  they  were  released, 
Blennerhassett  starting  for  his  island  home.  He  was 
arrested,  however,  in  Kentucky  and  conveyed  to  Rich 
mond  under  indictments  for  misdemeanor  and  treason. 
Ralston  suffered  no  further  prosecution;  but  Tyler, 
Floyd,  and  I.  Smith  were  indicted  at  Richmond, 
only  to  have,  after  the  acquittal  of  Burr,  nolle  prosequi 
entered  against  their  names. 

Jefferson  to  Madison,  April  25,  1807;  Jefferson  MSS. 


CHAPTER    XI. 
Measures  in  Washington. 


FOR  SOME  time  after  the  receipt  of  Wilkinson's 
confounding  letters  and  the  Proclamation  of  No 
vember  27th,  which  they  occasioned,  the  Gov 
ernment  manifested  no  uneasiness  concerning  the  en 
terprise  in  the  West.     December  ist  Congress  assem 
bled,  and  the  next  day  the  annual  Message  was  read, 
which  devoted  but  few  words  to  Burr's  project.    The 
President    said    his    information    concerning    it    was 
"chiefly  in  the  form  of  letters,  often  containing  such  a 
mixture   of   rumors,    conjectures,   and   suspicions   as 
[rendered]  it  difficult  to  sift  out  the  real  facts."     In 
October  when  the  General  sent  the  letter  which  called 
out  the  Proclamation  he  also  inclosed  his  secret  views 
which  looked  upon  the  movement  as  probably  double- 
natured.    But  the  President,  acting  only  on  the  strength 
of  the  official  communication,  said  in  his  Message  that 
he  had  "received  information  that  in  another  part  of 
the  United  States  a  great  number  of  private  individuals 
were  combining  together,  arming  and  organizing  them 
selves  contrary  to  law,  to  carry  on  a  military  expedi 
tion  against  the  territories  of  Spain."     He  had  conse 
quently  issued  his  Proclamation  as  an  act  of  good  faith 
toward  Spain,  and  in  order  that  the  conspirators  might 
not  decide  the  question  of  peace  or  war  for  the  country. 
Referring  to  the  matter  of  our  boundary  troubles 
285 


286  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

with  Spain,  he  informed  Congress  that  the  Sabine 
River  had  been  accepted  as  the  temporary  line  of  de 
marcation — which  was  not  true.  Wilkinson's  decep 
tion  had  made  possible  such  a  misstatement  of  fact. 
In  this  connection  Jefferson  took  occasion  to  praise 
the  conduct  of  the  inhabitants  of  Mississippi  and  Loui 
siana  : 

"I  inform  you  with  great  pleasure  of  the  promptitude 
with  which  the  inhabitants  of  those  Territories  have 
tendered  their  services  in  defense  of  their  country.  It  has 
done  honor  to  themselves,  entitled  them  to  the  confidence 
of  their  fellow  citizens  in  every  part  of  the  Union,  and 
must  strengthen  the  general  determination  to  protect  them 
efficaciously  under  all  circumstances  which  may  occur." 

Every  word  was  deserved.  Jefferson's  view  of  the 
conspiracy  thus  far  was  entirely  correct;  he  showed 
his  political  insight  in  placing  it  on  a  par  with  Mi 
randa's  scheme,  and  in  saying  that  the  Westerners 
might  be  relied  on  in  every  instance  where  patriotism 
and  honor  were  involved. 

"I  am  confident,"  Jefferson  said  to  Rodney,1  "he 
[Burr]  will  be  completely  deserted  on  the  appearance 
of  the  Proclamation,  because  his  strength  was  to  con 
sist  of  the  people  who  had  been  persuaded  that  the 
Government  connived  at  the  enterprise." 

It  was  indeed  possible  that  Burr  persuaded  the 
Westerners  to  join  him  under  the  plea  that  the  Govern 
ment  connived  at  his  hostile  intentions  against  the 
Spanish  possessions ;  but  it  would  be  the  acme  of 
absurdity  to  maintain  that  he  won  them  to  himself  by 
assuring  them  that  the  Administration  viewed  with 

Jefferson  to  Rodney,  December  5,  1806;  Jefferson  MSS. 


MEASURES  IN  WASHINGTON      287 

tranquillity  the  projected  severance  of  the  States.    Yet  I 
even  Jefferson  was  destined  to  doubt  for  a  day  the 
unswerving  fidelity  of  the  West. 

The  month  of  December  wore  on  at  Washington 
bringing  little  additional  news  of  the  expedition.  While 
Jefferson  fully  believed  that  his  Proclamation  would 
put  an  end  to  the  expedition  —  and  in  this  he  was  not  | 
mistaken  —  the  constant  agitation  at  last  half  convinced  \ 
him  that  the  dangers  were  greater  than  he  had  calcu 
lated.  December  2Oth  Robert  Smith,  Secretary  of  the 
Navy,  sent  orders  to  Captain  Shaw,  who  commanded 
the  squadron  before  New  Orleans,  to  place  his  boats  in 
the  best  position  to  effect  the  destruction  of  Burr's 
forces.1  But  Smith  was  not  satisfied  with  this.  He 
thought  it  necessary  to  write  the  President  at  length 
showing  the  measures  he  had  meant  to  urge  :2  — 

"In  the  course  of  our  various  communications  in  rela 
tion  to  the  movements  of  Colonel  Burr  in  the  Western 
country,  I  have  from  time  to  time  expressed  the  opinions 
which,  as  they  were  not  at  all  countenanced  by  any  of  the 
other  gentlemen,  I  did  not  deem  it  expedient  to  press  upon 
your  attention.  ...  If,  as  was  proposed  on  the  twenty- 
fourth  of  October,  the  sloops-of-war  and  the  gunboats 
stationed  at  Washington,  New  York,  Norfolk,  and 
Charleston  had  been  sent  to  New  Orleans  under  the  com 
mand  of  Commodore  Preble,  with  Captain  Decatur  second 
in  command,  we  would  at  this  time  have  nothing  to  appre 
hend  from  the  military  expedition  of  Colonel  Burr.  Such 
a  naval  force  joined  to  the  ketches  and  gunboats  now  on 
the  Mississippi,  would  beyond  a  doubt  have  been  sufficient 
to  suppress  such  an  enterprise." 


to  Shaw,  December  20,  1806  ;  Letters  in  Relation. 
"Smith  to  Jefferson,  December  22,  1806;  Jefferson  MSS. 


288  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

Jefferson  was  prompt  in  his  reply,1  and  now  for  the 
first  time  developed  symptoms  of  panic. 

"What  I  had  myself  in  contemplation,"  he  said,  "was 
to  wait  till  we  get  news  from  Louisville  of  December  fif 
teenth,  the  day  of  Burr's  proposed  general  rendezvous. 
The  post  comes  from  thence  in  twelve  days.  The  mail 
next  expected  will  be  of  that  date.  If  we  then  find  that 
his  force  has  had  no  effectual  opposition  at  either  Marietta 
or  Cincinnati,  and  will  not  be  stopped  at  Louisville,  then, 
without  depending  on  the  opposition  at  Fort  Adams 
(though  I  have  more  dependence  on  that  than  any  other), 
I  should  propose  to  lay  the  whole  matter  before  Congress, 
ask  an  immediate  appropriation  for  a  naval  equipment, 
and  at  the  same  time  order  twenty  thousand  militia,  or 
volunteers,  from  the  Western  States  to  proceed  down  the 
river  to  retake  New  Orleans,  presuming  our  naval  equip 
ment  would  be  there  before  them.  In  the  meantime  I 
would  recommend  to  you  to  be  getting  ready  and  giving 
orders  of  preparation  to  the  officers  and  vessels  which  we 
can  get  speedily  ready." 

Jefferson  without  involving  himself  in  a  maze  of 
contradictions  could  not  have  thought  the  danger  great, 
if  he  calculated  on  being  able  to  muster  twenty  thou 
sand  militia  in  the  region  which  had  given  birth  to  the 
conspiracy.  The  day  before,  he  had  written  Governor 
Langdon  in  an  unusually  confident  tone.2  He  outlined 
to  him  that  Burr  had  planned  to  seize  New  Orleans,  at 
tack  Mexico,  and  to  add  to  this  Louisiana  and  the 
Western  States.  This  would  make  up  his  empire.  "I 
do  not  believe  he  will  attain  the  crown,"  continued  the 
President,  "but  neither  am  I  certain  that  the  halter  will 
get  its  due."  It  was  still  his  opinion  that  the  Western 

'Jefferson  to  Smith.  December  23,  1806;  Jefferson  MSS. 
'Jefferson  to  Langdon,  December  22,  1806;  Jefferson  MSS. 


MEASURES  IN  WASHINGTON      289 

States  would  suppress  the  enterprise,  that  the  trouble 
with  Spain  would  result  in  war. 

January  2d  Wilkinson's  mendacious  letter  of  No 
vember  1 2th  from  Minor's  Seat  reached  the  White  , 
House.  Besides  this  the  messenger  gave  an  oral  ac 
count  of  Burr's  cipher  letter.  Even  then  Jefferson  did 
not  lose  his  equanimity.  News  reached  him,  too,  that 
a  war  vessel  of  twenty-two  guns  was  fitting  out  in  New 
York  harbor  under  the  command  of  one  Blakely,  lieu 
tenant  to  Miranda,  to  go  to  the  assistance  of  Burr. 
January  4th  the  President  reported  to  Gallatin  that  he 
had  ordered  Blakely  to  be  arrested  and  the  authorities 
to  search  out  the  ship.1  He  took  no  other  measure,  how 
ever,  even  with  Wilkinson's  foreboding  letters  before 
him.  He  was  warranted  in  this,  for  the  Western  mail 
had  brought  news  that  most  of  Burr's  boats  had  been 
seized,  that  only  six  had  escaped.  What  had  the  fleet 
of  ketches  before  New  Orleans  to  fear  from  a  settler's 
squadron?  Such  was  his  frame  of  mind  until  the 
country  seemed  to  go  Burr-mad ;  and  until  Wilkinson's 
venal  letters  and  Eaton's  corrupt  deposition  convinced 
him  that  Burr  had  really  been  guilty  of  plotting  a  sepa 
ration  of  the  States.  If  their  story  were  true,  then 
Aaron  Burr's  enterprise  was  "the  most  extraordinary 
since  the  days  of  Don  Quixote." 

"It  is  so  extraordinary,"  Jefferson  wrote  January  nth 
to  Charles  Clay,2  "that  those  who  know  his  understanding 
would  not  believe  it  if  the  proofs  admitted  doubt.  He  has 
meant  to  place  himself  on  the  throne  of  Montezuma,  and 
extend  his  Empire  to  the  Alleghany,  seizing  on  New 

'Jefferson  to  Gallatin,  January  4,  1807;  Jefferson  MSS. 
'Jefferson  to  Charles  Clay,  January  n,  1807;  Jefferson  MSS. 


29o  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

Orleans  as  the  instrument  of  compulsion  for  our  Western 
States.  I  think  his  undertaking  effectually  crippled  by  the 
activity  of  Ohio.  Whether  Kentucky  will  give  him  the 
coup  de  grace  is  doubtful ;  but  if  he  is  able  to  descend  the 
river  with  any  means,  we  are  sufficiently  prepared  at  New 
Orleans.  I  hope,  however,  that  Kentucky  will  do  its  duty 
and  finish  the  matter  for  the  honor  of  popular  govern 
ment,  and  the  discouragement  of  all  arguments  for  stand 
ing  armies." 

The  Palladium  would  have  replied  to  that  exposi 
tion  in  this  wise  i1 — 

"Believing  him  [Burr]  to  be  a  man  of  common  sense 
at  least  (and  by  many  his  abilities  are  estimated  highly), 
he  would  surely  adapt  the  means  to  the  end.  And  can  it 
be  supposed  he  has  done  so,  if  his  object  is  to  attack  Mex 
ico,  dismember  the  Union,  and  erect  an  independent  em 
pire,  by  building  a  few  boats  on  the  Ohio  and  by  a  few 
secret  emissaries  scattered  over  the  Western  country? 
The  physical  force  to  do  this  lies  with  the  people,  and  to 
command  it,  public  opinion  must  be  with  him.  Perhaps  it 
would  not  be  going  too  far  to  say  that  nine-tenths  of  the 
Western  people  would  oppose  such  a  project,  satisfied  as 
they  are  with  the  administration  of  the  government  of 
the  Union,  and  the  present  happy  situation  of  public 
affairs." 

But  the  force  of  this  argument  would  have  failed 
to  penetrate  the  armor  of  the  President,  who,  while 
outwardly  professing  faith  in  the  loyalty  of  the  fron 
tiersmen,  regarded  the  capture  of  the  boats  on  the  Mus- 
kingum  as  the  master-stroke  in  the  crippling  of  the  en 
terprise.  One  may  justly  infer  from  Jefferson's  frame 
of  mind  that  the  project  failed  for  the  want  of  the  ap 
pliances  of  war — not  for  lack  of  the  spirit  of  sedition. 
Holding  such  an  opinion,  he  was,  strangely  enough, 

*P allodium,  November  13,  1806. 


MEASURES  IN  WASHINGTON       291 

disposed  to  deride  the  movement ;  the  newspapers,  how 
ever,  teemed  with  "rumors  dangerous  to  the  peace  and 
safety  of  the  Union,"  and  some  individuals  high  in 
office  were  expressing  their  apprehensions : 

"I  fear  that  Burr  will  go  down  the  river,"  Samuel 
Smith  wrote1  to  W.  C.  Nicholas,  "and  give  us  trouble. 
The  proclamation,  it  seems,  in  the  Western  country  is 
very  little  attended  to.  They,  no  doubt,  seeing  no  exertion  * 
making,  consider  that  it  has  originated  from  false  infor 
mation.  The  President  has  not  yet  given  any  kind  of 
information  to  Congress,  and  gentlemen  (  Giles  among  the 
number)  will  not  believe  that  there  is  any  kind  of  danger. 
Burr's  letter  to  Wilkinson  is  explicit.  (This  is 
secret.)  He  had  passed  the  Alleghany  never,  never  to  re 
turn  ;  his  object,  New  Orleans, — open  and  avowed.  And 
yet  not  one  step  taken,  except  the  proclamation !  " 

Smith,  like  many  others,  jumped  to  conclusions  in 
basing  treason  on  Burr's  letter  to  Wilkinson;  and  he 
was  still  further  away  from  the  truth  in  asserting  that- 
the  people  paid  no  attention  to  the  Proclamation.  We 
have  had  cause  to  notice  its  effects. 

January  i6th,  while  Burr  was  negotiating  with 
Meade,  John  Randolph  started  on  a  new  crusade 
against  Jefferson  by  moving  a  Resolution  asking  of  him 
what  was  known  of  the  Burr  Conspiracy  and  what 
measures  had  been  taken  for  its  suppression.  This 
was  an  unusual  proceeding,  but  it  was  Randolph's  pur 
pose,  now  that  reconciliation  was  neither  expected,  nor 
sought,  to  compromise  the  President,  and  to  disgrace 
him  in  the  eyes  of  the  country.  Knowing  that  Jefferson 
was  opposed  to  a  Spanish  war  and  that  the  masses 
,  in.,  334. 


292  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

would  hail  it  with  acclaim,  he  struggled  with  all  his 
indomitable  energy  to  bring  it  about.  Randolph  con 
nected  Burr's  movements  with  the  activity  of  the  Span 
iards  on  the  frontier,  thereby  making  Jefferson  a  tar 
get  for  abuse  because  of  his  failure  to  use  a  mailed  hand 
in  his  dealings  with  the  foreigner : 

"Ever  since  the  peace  of  1783,"  Randolph  inveighed, 
"Spain  has  incessantly  labored  to  detach  the  Western  peo 
ple  from  the  Union.  ...  It  appears,  indeed,  that  she 
has  never  lost  sight  of  this  object ;  and  I  believe  she  never 
will  lose  sight  of  it  so  long  as  she  shall  find  materials  to 
work  upon,  or  a  shadow  of  hope  that  she  will  succeed. 
.  .  .  If  the  Government,  .  .  .  had  taken  a  manly 
and  decisive  attitude  towards  Spain,  and  instead  of  pen, 
ink,  and  paper,  had  given  men  and  arms — is  there  a  man 
who  believes  that  not  only  Spain  would  have  been  over 
awed,  but  that  those  domestic  traitors  would  have  been 
intimidated  and  overawed,  whose  plans  threaten  to  be  so 
dangerous  ?" 

The  underlying  idea  of  the  old  Spanish  Association 
here  again  sprang  into  vigorous  life.  In  the  eyes  of 
the  statesman  from  Virginia,  Burr's  enterprise  was 
not  an  independent  one  aimed  at  both  the  Union  and 
the  Spanish  provinces;  it  was  directed  solely  toward 
the  destruction  of  the  Federation,  and  Spain  not  only 
applauded  but  was  really  at  the  bottom  of  the  plot.  The 
British  Minister  reported  to  Lorcl  Howick  that  "Sur 
mises  of  various  kinds  as  to  the  real  objects  of  the 
projects  have  supplied  the  place  of  facts ;"  but  added — 

"The  circumstance  that  has  excited  the  greatest  suspicion 
against  the  persons  concerned  in  the  enterprise,  has  been 
the  very  large  quantity  of  money  that  has  been  collected. 
Spain  is  said  to  be  concerned  in  exciting  these  plots  to 


.    MEASURES  IN  WASHINGTON      293 

endeavor  to  effectuate  a  division  of  the  Western  country 
from  the  Union."1 

Not  only  did  the  country  at  large  believe  Spain 
guilty  of  prosecuting  a  sinister  intention  to  detach  the 
Western  States  from  the  Republic,  but  the  Government 
concurred  in  the  opinion.2  To  that  end  Spain  was  sup 
posed  to  have  contributed  money  and  encouragement. 
One  need  go  no  further  to  realize  how  illusory  and 
chaotic  was  the  idea  of  the  conspiracy  in  the  public 
mind,  for  we  know  that  Spain  had  no  part  whatever  in 
the  drama  which  made  so  tremendous  a  sensation.  A 
majority  of  the  House  of  Representatives  came  to  the 
support  of  Randolph's  Resolution,  and  from  the  tenor 
of  the  speeches  made  in  favor  of  it  the  conclusion  is  only 
too  obvious  that  it  was  believed  a  disclosure  of  the  Pres 
ident's  information  would  so  implicate  Spain  that  war 
would  of  necessity  result. 

January  22d  in  response  to  the  Resolution,  Jefferson 
sent  a  report  of  the  Aaron  Burr  affair  to  Congress. 
He  related  that  in  the  latter  part  of  September  he  had, 

"received  intimations  that  designs  were  in  agitation  in  the  ,  fi 
Western  country  unlawful  and  unfriendly  to  the  peace  of 
the  Union.  ...  It  was  not  till  the  latter  part  of 
October  that  the  objects  of  the  conspiracy  began  to  be  per 
ceived,  but  still  so  blended  and  involved  in  mystery  that 
nothing  distinct  could  be  singled  out  for  pursuit." 

The  President  had  indeed  for  months  been  receiv 
ing  letters  of  warning  from  Daviess,  and  later  also 

'Erskine  to  Lord  Howick,  January  6,  1807;  MSS.  British 

Archives.  _  ._  .  .  « 

'Erksine  to  Lord  Howick,  February  I,  1807;  MSS.  British 
Archives. 


'  294  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

from  the  Morgans;  but  in  each  was  only  mystery  and 
indefiniteness — there  was  in  very  truth  nothing  to  be 
"singled  out  for  pursuit."  However,  Jefferson  said, 
the  receipt  of  Wilkinson's  messages  from  Natchitoches 
utterly  altered  the  aspect  of  things.  These  letters,  to 
gether  with  other  information, 

"when  brought  together  developed  Burr's  designs.  . 
He  contemplated  two  distinct  objects,  which  might  be 
carried  on  either  jointly  or  separately.  .  .  .  One  of 
these  was  the  severance  of  the  Union  of  these  states  by 
the  Alleghany  Mountains ;  the  other  an  attack  on  Mexico. 
A  third  object  was  provided,  merely  ostensible,  to  wit,  the 
settlement  of  a  pretended  purchase  of  a  tract  of  country 
on  the  Washita  claimed  by  Baron  Bastrop." 

This  was  but  the  beginning  of  the  mischief  wrought 
by  Wilkinson's  fabrications.  He  had  "developed"  Burr's 
designs  and  Jefferson  was  compelled  by  Congress  to 
declare  himself;  so  he  credited  his  General  and  said 
that  Burr's  guilt  was  placed  beyond  question.  Alluding 
to  Burr,  he  continued,  "He  found  at  once  that  the  at 
tachment  of  the  Western  country  to  the  present  Union 
was  not  to  be  shaken,"  and  "took  his  course  then,  at 
once  determined  to  seize  on  New  Orleans,  plunder  the 
bank  there,  possess  himself  of  the  military  and  naval 
stores,  and  proceed  on  his  expedition  to  Mexico." 
Jefferson's  language  was  positive,  but  six  months  later 
it  was  discovered — in  spite  of  the  extraordinary  exer 
tions  which  had  been  made  to  procure  testimony — that 
the  emphatic  utterance  rested  upon  Wilkinson,  while 
Wilkinson  in  turn  relied  upon  the  President. 

"In  Kentucky  a  premature  attempt  to  bring  Burr 
to  justice  without  sufficient  evidence  for  his  conviction 


MEASURES  IN  WASHINGTON      295' 

had  produced  a  popular  impression  in  his  favor  and  a 
general  disbelief  of  his  guilt."  Herein  the  President 
did  violence  to  the  facts — but  no  doubt  unwittingly — 
as  he  did  when  he  ridiculed  the  transfer  of  the  Bastrop 
lands  as  a  "pretended  purchase." 

"Great  alarm,  indeed,"  declared  the  report,  "was 
excited  at  New  Orleans  by  the  exaggerated  accounts 
of  Mr.  Burr,  disseminated  through  his  emissaries,  of 
the  armies  and  navies  he^was  to  assemble  there."  Had 
he  spoken  the  truth  he  would  have  had  to  say  that  gen 
uine  alarm  coincided  with  Wilkinson's  arrival.  There 
is  nothing  to  show  that  any  of  the  so-called  emis 
saries  of  Burr  were  guilty  of  circulating  inflammatory 
reports;  but  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  the 
General  deliberately  strove  to  turn  the  city  into  a 
tumultuous  camp.  It  was  only  another  instance  of  his 
duplicity — he  scattered  terror  and  gave  it  out  that 
Burr's  followers  were  doing  the  mischief. 

Jefferson's  memorable  communication  recited  in 
conclusion  that  "on  the  whole,  the  fugitives  from  the 
Ohio  with  their  associates  from  the  Cumberland  or  any 
other  place  in  that  quarter,  cannot  threaten  serious 
danger  to  the  city  of  New  Orleans." 

This  assurance,  however,  failed  to  allay  the  sudden 
fears  of  the  Senate.  The  ensuing  day  under  suspension 
of  the  rules  a  law  was  passed  suspending  for  three 
months  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus.  Monday,  January 
26th,  the  bill  came  before  the  House.  It  was  at  once 
decided  that  it  should  be  discussed  with  open  doors — 
and  this  meant  its  defeat.  The  rejection  of  the  bill 
was  moved  by  Eppes,  the  President's  son-in-law.  It 


296  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

was  urged  by  the  supporters  of  the  motion  that  the 
danger  had  passed ;  that  the  Executive  had  not  required 
such  a  measure ;  that  it  was  not  sanctioned  by  the  Con 
stitution  ;  and  that  it  was  a  dangerous  precedent.  The 
dissent  was  feeble,  and  the  motion  prevailed  by  an 
overwhelming  majority — 113  to  19.  The  Senate  was 
rebuked  for  its  undignified  haste  and  ill-advised  action ; 
but  the  House  must  have  been  chagrined,  for  all  this 
had  been  occasioned  by  Randolph's  Resolution  which 
had  thus  ended  abortively.  Defeated  in  one  direction, 
the  opposition  to  the  Government  sought  a  more  vul 
nerable  point. 

Profiting  by  the  confusion  occasioned  by  the  report 
of  Wilkinson's  military  seizures,  February  7th,  Mr. 
Broom,  Federalist  representative  from  Delaware,  sub 
mitted  the  following  Resolution,  "Resolved,  that  it  is 
expedient  to  make  further  provision  for  securing  the 
privilege  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  to  persons  in  cus 
tody  under  or  by  color  of  the  authority  of  the  United 
States."  Ten  days  later  it  came  up  for  action,  whereupon 
an  animated,  embittered  debate  was  precipitated  which 
lasted  for  four  days.  Randolph  joined  the  Federal 
ists  in  the  attack,  averring  that  Jeffersonian  Repub 
licanism  shielded  worse  outrages  on  the  Constitution 
than  the  regime  which  brought  the  Alien  and  Sedition 
Laws.  The  brilliance  and  invective  of  Randolph's  at 
tack  eclipsed  the  replies  of  the  Administration  Demo 
crats,  who  pleaded  confidently  that  Burr  was  guilty, 
that  Wilkinson  was  justified  in  having  trodden  under 
foot  the  sacred  writ,  that  the  Federalists  were  displeased 
only  because  the  conspiracy  had  failed  in  its  purpose. 


MEASURES  IN  WASHINGTON      297 

Finally,  driven  from  their  ground,  but  confident  of 
their  voting  strength,  the  beaten  opponents  of  the 
Resolution  fell  back  on  the  proposition  that  if  by 
chance  the  accused  were  innocent  and  Wilkinson  had 
exceeded  his  authority,  there  was  the  usual  recourse 
to  law  for  damages.  This  would  put  the  writ  of 
habeas  corpus  "on  the  footing  of  a  common  tres 
pass,"  Randolph  insisted,  while  it  was  "the  only  writ 
sanctioned  by  the  Constitution."  It  should  therefore 
be  safeguarded.  As  it  was,  if  the  judge  violated  it 
impeachment  might  be  resorted  to,  but  impeachment— 
and  Randolph  spoke,  having  in  mind  his  defeat  in  the 
impeachment  trial  of  Justice  Chase — was  an  "uncertain 
punishment" ;  likewise,  if  a  military  tyrant  usurped  the 
time-honored  right,  there  was  only  the  ordinary  process 
for  damages.  Then  he  closed  his  discourse  with  the 
ringing  appeal  that  a  law  should  be  passed  against  mur 
der  though  the  dead  man  "have  redress  without  it !" 

It  was  a  trying  moment  for  Jefferson.  The  Quids 
and  Federalists  had  made  sad  havoc  in  the  ranks  of  his 
supporters,  and  the  sentiment  against  Wilkinson  was 
so  overwhelming  that  it  appeared  as  if  the  President 
would  be  overborne  in  a  misguided  effort  to  save  the 
chief  of  his  army.  While  the  debate  was  at  its  hottest 
the  prisoners  whom  the  General  had  shipped  from  New 
Orleans  were  on  trial  in  the  Capital,  each  in  his  turn 
to  be  liberated  for  want  of  evidence  of  guilt.  It  was 
truly  a  crisis  in  Jefferson's  political  career — chiefly  indi 
cative  of  what  he  might  expect — for  it  was  by  the 
margin  of  two,  the  vote  stood  sixty  to  fifty-eight, 
that  the  Resolution  was  postponed  indefinitely.  The 


298  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

day  had  been  saved — and  Wilkinson ;  but  the  cost  of  it 
was  not  then  to  appear. 

On  January  i8th — Burr  had  just  surrendered  to 
the  civil  authorities  on  the  Bayou  Pierre — Jefferson 
learned  of  Wilkinson's  illegal  arrests,  and  that  some 
of  the  suspected  traitors  would  soon  reach  Washington. 
He  also  received  for  the  first  time  a  version  of  the 
famous  cipher  letter.  In  his  communication  to  the 
Senate  and  House  of  January  26th  he  said  that  he  had 
ordered  all  military  prisoners  delivered  at  once  to  the 
civil  authorities,  adding  that  the  evidence  submitted  by 
Wilkinson  was  also  to  be  laid  before  the  courts. 

Alexander  was  the  first  to  arrive,  reaching  Balti 
more  January  3ist.  He  was  sent  straight  to  Washing 
ton,  and  on  the  sixth  of  February  appeared  before 
Judge  Ducket,  who  released  him  for  want  of  evidence.1 
Next  came  Swartwout  and  Bollman.  Upon  arriving  at 
Washington,  the  Supreme  Court  being  in  session,  they 
applied  for  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus.  February  I3th 
Chief- Justice  Marshall  granted  it.  On  a  motion  for 
their  discharge  the  evidence  was  reviewed  and  on  the 
twenty-eighth  the  Chief-Justice  delivered  an  exhaus 
tive  opinion,  deciding  that  the  charge  of  levying  war 
had  not  been  sustained  by  sufficient  evidence  to  warrant 
the  commitment  of  Swartwout,  still  less  of  Bollman. 

Thus  three  of  the  chief  subordinates  in  the  con 
spiracy,  whom  Wilkinson  had  specially  consigned  to 
the  President,  had  escaped.  It  is  no  wonder  that  the 
General  was  annoyed  at  the  result,  his  deposition  hav 
ing  been  incidentally  ignored;  and  that  he  sought  to 

I0rleans  Gazette,  March  24,  1807. 


MEASURES  IN  WASHINGTON      299 

stimulate  Jefferson  by  relating  that  the  release  of  these 
base  conspirators  had  given  new  confidence  to  Burr's 
partisans  in  the  lower  country  and  that  another  out 
break  was  likely. 

Tuesday,  February  I7th,  while  the  examination  of 
Bollman  and  Swartwout  was  progressing  at  Washing 
ton,  General  Adair  and  Ogden  landed  in  Baltimore. 
Wednesday  the  prisoners  were  brought  before  Judge 
Joseph  N.  Nicholson  in  obedience  to  a  writ  allowed  by 
him  that  morning.  They  were  immediately  released, 
no  cause  for  confinement  being  shown.1 

"Very  much  to  my  surprise  and  mortification,"  said 
the  judge  to  the  President,2  "there  was  no  proof  of  any 
nature  whatsoever  with  them,  although  I  administered  an 
oath  to  Lieutenant  Luckett  with  a  view  to  acquire  the 
necessary  information  from  him.  He  could  give  none 
except  the  common  conversation  of  the  day.  And  I  was 
under  the  necessity  of  discharging  the  prisoners." 

Forty-eight  hours  later  the  Executive  replied  in  a 
most  benevolent  mood,  "Their  crimes  are  defeated,  and 
whether  they  should  be  punished  or  not  belongs  to  an 
other  department,  and  is  not  the  subject  of  even  a 
wish  on  my  part."3  This,  considered  together  with 
subsequent  utterances,  reveals  a  grievous  weakness  in 
his  character — that  his  great  mind  could  harbor  hatreds 
malignant  enough  to  poison  his  love  for  justice.  For 
did  he  not  instruct  Hay  to  pardon  all  the  accused  pro 
vided  the  principal  might  be  convicted  ?* 

After  Adair  had  been  discharged  he  went  to  Wash- 

I0rleans  Gazette,  April  3,  1807. 

'Nicholson  to  Jefferson,  February  18,  1807;  Jefferson  MSS. 
'Jefferson  to  Nicholson,  February  20,  1807;  Jefferson  MSS. 
*See  p.  338. 


300  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

ington  and  demanded  of  the  Attorney-General  an  in 
vestigation.  The  latter  remarked  that  evidence  was 
lacking  and  that  the  matter  could  not  be  pursued.  Soon 
after  this  Adair  brought  suit  in  Natchez  against  Wil 
kinson  for  false  imprisonment.  At  the  end  of  eight 
years  the  case  was  finally  decided  in  an  award  of  $2,500 
damages,  the  jury  adding  that  the  sum  would  have 
been  greater  but  for  the  notorious  poverty  of  the  Gen 
eral.  The  Government,  however,  paid  the  debt.1  Dur 
ing  this  long  period  Wilkinson  had  signally  failed  to 
make  out  a  case  against  the  man  whom  he  had  violently 
seized  as  a  traitor — the  man  who  proved  himself  a  hero 
in  the  battle  of  New  Orleans,  who  served  his  State  as 
Governor,  and  who  ever  held  a  high  place  in  the  esteem 
of  the  people  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Kentucky. 

January  28th  the  President  sent  to  the  Senate 
and  House  the  news  he  had  received  from  Andrew 
Jackson  and  Captain  Bissell  to  the  effect  that  only  a 
few  boats  had  passed  down  the  river,  and  that  these 
were  unwarlikc.  Since  none  others  could  escape  he 
considered  the  conspiracy  at  an  end.  February  iQth  he 
communicated  to  Congress  the  pleasing  news  Gov 
ernor  Meade  had  sent  concerning  the  arrival  of  Burr  in 
the  Mississippi  Territory,  and  of  his  surrender  to  the 
civil  authority. 

Now  that  the  enterprise  was  ended  Gallatin  sug- 
gested  in  a  brief  letter  of  February  2ist  to  the  Execu 
tive  that  it  would  be  proper  to  obtain  an  appropriation 
for  making  compensation  for  the  boats  and  provisions 

'Gales  and  Seaton's  Biographical  Sketches  (General  John 
Adair). 


MEASURES  IN  WASHINGTON      301 

seized  on  the  Ohio.1  This  was  in  consequence  of  his 
having  received  a  letter  from  Alston  inquiring  about 
the  matter.  February  27,  1807,  the  Cabinet  for 
mally  recognized  by  its  action  that  the  conspiracy  as  an 
active  force  was  dead,  and  that  the  time  for  the  prose 
cution  of  the  guilty  had  arrived. 

It  was  "agreed  to  discharge  all  the  militia  at  stations 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Cumberland  upward;  to  give  up 
all  boats  and  provisions  seized,  except  Blennerhassett's, 
or  to  pay  value  thereof  and  apply  them  to  the  public  ser 
vice  ;  to  institute  an  inquiry  into  the  proceedings  of  Burr 
and  his  adherents  from  New  York  to  New  Orleans ;  and 
particularly  to  appoint  good  men  at  Pittsburg,  Marietta, 
Wood  County,  Cincinnati,  Louisville,  Nashville,  Vin- 
cennes,  Saint  Louis,  Natchez,  New  Orleans,  Washington 
City,  Philadelphia,  and  Norfolk  to  take  affidavits — the 
Attorney- General  to  prepare  the  interrogatories."2 

Meantime  New  Orleans  had  returned  to  a  rational 
state.  When  it  had  become  known  that  Burr's  for 
midable  fleet  of  transports  and  vessels  of  war  was 
actually  represented  by  nine  ordinary  river  boats ;  that 
his  numerous  army  of  traitors  had  dwindled  to  less 
than  sixty  peacefully  disposed  citizens ;  that  the  danger 
ous  stores  of  arms  and  munitions  were  made  up  of  a 
few  rifles  and  powder  horns;  and  that  he  had  offered 
no  resistance  to  the  authorities — the  collapse  was  com 
plete.  What  with  the  Memorial  of  the  Legislature  and 
the  acrimonious  denunciations  of  Livingston  and  Wat- 
kins,  Wilkinson  felt  that  his  character,  though  well 
"established,"  was  being  slowly  worn  away.  The  re 
action  was  obtrusive,  convincing;  and  he  took  further 

'Gallatin  to  Jefferson,  February  21,  1807;  Jefferson  MSS. 
2Cabinet  Memoranda,  February  27,  1807;  Jefferson  MSS. 


302  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

steps  to  strengthen  his  position  with  the  President. 
February  I3th  he  wrote  to  Jefferson  i1— 

"You  must  long  before  this  perusal  have  heard  of  the 
salutary  decision  to  which  I  have  been  driven  in  this  city, 
and  of  the  persecution  and  abuse  I  have  suffered  and  am 
suffering  in  consequence  of  it.  The  late  clemency  and 
confidence  extended  to  Colonel  Burr  in  the  Mississippi 
Territory,  the  popular  standing  he  has  acquired  there,  and 
his  mock  trial  and  acquittal,  and  his  recent  flight  from 
justice,  may,  I  hope,  have  the  tendency  to  dissipate  the 
delusions  spread  abroad  by  his  open  adherents  and  nu 
merous  secret  friends  in  this  quarter ;  and  at  the  same 
time  serve  to  illustrate  the  soundness  of  those  strong- 
handed  precautions  to  which  I  resorted  to  destroy  the  con 
cert  and  cooperation  of  the  conspirators,  to  stem  the  tor 
rent  of  disaffection,  and  to  save  this  city  from  the  horrors 
of  a  civil  commotion." 

A  more  forceful  statement  of  his  case  could  not 
have  been  written — the  collapse  of  the  conspiracy  left 
him  fearful  of  the  consequences.  He  grasped  at  every 
incident  which  would  help  his  cause  or  palliate  his 
illegal  acts.  Prosecution  and  disgrace  seemed  to  him 
fast  approaching  —  the  consciousness  of  his  own 
guilt  raised  before  him  nameless  terrors  which  he 
sought  to  silence  by  repeating  the  magical  name  of 
Jefferson.  His  method  with  the  President  was  irre 
sistible.  All  his  fine  argument  was  to  lead  up  to  an 
appeal  which  Jefferson,  through  his  alliance,  was  com 
pelled  to  hear  and  to  heed.  "But,  sir,"  said  Wilkin 
son,  "when  the  tempest  has  passed  away  and  dangers 
have  disappeared  I  must  hope  I  shall  not  be  left  alone 

1Wilkinson  to  Jefferson,  February  13,  1807;  Letters  in  Re 
lation. 


MEASURES  IN  WASHINGTON      303 

to  buffet  a  combination  of  bar  and  bench."  In  con 
clusion  the  General  hastened  to  felicitate  the  President 
on  his  narrow  escape  from  a  terrible  calamity  and  upon 
the  discovery  in  the  West  of  a  degree  of  loyalty  beyond 
imagination. 

"I  congratulate  you,  sir,  with  my  whole  soul  on  the 
issue  which  the  nefarious  project  has  taken.  ...  I 
consider  the  general  safety  secured,  and  I  view  with  ex 
ultation  the  triumph  of  principle  in  the  patriotic  display 
made  by  the  states  of  the  Ohio." 

For  Wilkinson  to  prate  of  the  "patriotic  display 
made  by  the  states  of  the  Ohio,"  a  region  he  had  repre 
sented  as  ripe  for  revolt,  was  downright  knavery  recoil 
ing  on  itself.  Moreover,  when  he  confessed  that  the 
native  population  of  Louisiana,  the  Creoles,  were  the 
most  loyal  of  Americans,  his  hypocrisy  was  laid  bare 
in  all  its  hideousness — he  admitted  that  the  West 
from  the  Ohio  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  was  stanchly 
patriotic,  and  that  he  had  made  his  accusations  for  sel 
fish  purposes.  Even  at  such  a  moment  his  courage,  al 
ways  great,  was  undiminished.  Four  days  after  the 
above  dispatch  he  sent  another  equally  steeped  in  de 
ception. 

"The  flight  of  Burr,'*'  he  said  in  an  official  dispatch  to 
the  Chief  Executive,1  "the  boldness  of  his  numerous  asso 
ciates  in  the  Mississippi  Territory,  and  the  very  strong 
interests  he  has  established  in  the  Territory  again  involve 
us  here  in  doubts  and  fears  as  to  the  speedy  termination 
of  this  illicit  enterprise.  For  if  (as  is  believed  by  many) 
he  is  now  concealed  near  Natchez,  and  should  he  on  the 
breaking  up  of  the  ice  receive  four  or  five  hundred  auxil- 

^Wilkinson  to  Jefferson,  February  17,  1807;  Letters  in  Re 
lation. 


0 


304  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

iaries,  it  is  probable  he  will  make  some  desperate  attempt 
against  the  Spaniards  either  in  West  Florida  or  by  Na- 
cogdoches;  for,  unless  he  can  gild  his  crimes  by  some 
extraordinary  stroke  of  fortune,  he  must  seek  the  grave 
as  his  only  resort.  We  have  many  here  who  would  wish 
to  see  him  master  of  the  city,  but  his  followers  will  not 
support  him  (generally)  in  any  attempt  directly  against 
the  United  States,  and  besides  my  little  force  has  become 
too  respectable  to  be  approached  by  any  body  of  irregulars 
without  imminent  danger/' 

The  manifest  uneasiness  that  Burr  would  yet  "gild 
his  crimes'*  by  attacking  some  part  of  the  Spanish  do 
minions  vividly  recalls  Wilkinson's  dispatch  to  the 
President  from  Natchitoches  in  which  he  indicated  that 
with  the  proper  authority  he  might  direct  the  energies 
of  the  associates  against  the  enemy.  The  fear  was  now 
that  they  would  of  their  own  accord  assail  some  Spanish 
settlement  and  for  the  purpose  simply,  as  he  chose  to 
express  it,  of  saving  themselves  from  traitors'  graves. 
Were  the  Mississippians  in  reality  playing  a  sinister 
part  in  the  drama  of  disaffection  when  they  volunteered 
against  Burr,  and  when  they  later  declared  they  had 
been  deceived  in  believing  his  enterprise  hostile  to  the 
nation  of  which  they  were  a  part  ?  It  was  a  late  hour, 
but  a  fitting  climax  for  Wilkinson  to  admit  that  Burr's 
forces  would  make  no  "attempt  directly  against  the 
United  States."  The  General's  case  was  still  hanging 
in  the  balance.  The  capture  of  Baton  Rouge  by  the 
Burrites  would  have  irretrievably  overthrown  it. 

The  outspoken  sympathies  of  the  people  in  favor  of 
revolutionizing  West  Florida  and  Mexico  were  held 
in  abeyance  only  by  the  supersensitive  state  of  the 
public  mind  and  by  the  hatred  with  which  they  looked 


MEASURES  IN  WASHINGTON      305 

upon  secret  combinations.  Wilkinson  reenforced  Gra 
ham's  observation  as  to  the  predominant  purpose  in  the 
masses  to  invade  the  Spanish  territories,  and  while 
busy  searching  for  witnesses  and  clearing  away  the 
debris  of  the  conspiracy,  he  discussed  briefly  the  situa 
tion  of  affairs  with  Jefferson.1  Noting  Bonaparte's 
plan  for  universal  dominion,  he  passed  to  a  subject  he 
said  he  had  had  some  time  in  mind.  'With  leave  he 
could  foster  a  revolution  in  Mexico.'  Referring  to  a 
conversation  he  had  with  the  President  in  1804  con 
cerning  Cuba,  he  advised  the  capture  of  the  island; 
adding  that  within  six  months  in  conjunction  with  an 
English  squadron  the  Floridas  might  be  taken  and 
Mexico  freed. 

"They  [the  Floridas]  are  ripe  for  violent  measures. 
.  .  .  If  the  United  States  will  not  protect  them  they 
will  solicit  the  help  of  England.  The  taking  of  Baton 
Rouge  and  Pensacola  they  speak  of  as  matters  of  trifling 
achievement.  They  have  about  four  hundred  men  who 
will  follow  their  standard  to  any  length  they  please." 

These  expositions  to  the  Executive  are  supple 
mented  by  a  letter  to  Clark,  which  is  characteristic  and 
shows  that  the  General  was  eager  for  the  revolution 
izing  of  Mexico,  provided  he  was  the  leader  of  the 
army. 

"The  chiefs  of  Mexico  are  ready  to  declare  for  inde 
pendence,  on  the  slightest  encouragement  of  the  United 
States,  to  whom  they  look  for  alliance  and  support.  I 
write  facts  which  I  have  enterprised  and  hazarded  much 
to  ascertain  since  November  last.  The  opportunity  ap 
pears  to  be  a  golden  one,  and  I  hope  it  may  suit  the  policy 
of  our  country  to  adopt  it.  The  poor  devils  on  the  side 

'Wilkinson  to  Jefferson,  March  12,  1807;  Letters  in  Relation. 


306  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

of  Texas  have  all  retired,  and  Nacogdoches  is  left  with 
its  usual  guard." 

Was  it  only  now  dawning  on  the  General  that  the 
Mexicans  were  ready  to  declare  for  independence? 
The  news  was  nothing  new.  By  coincidence,  at  the 
time  Wilkinson  wrote,  one  of  Burr's  agents,  ignorant 
that  the  end  had  come  at  Bayou  Pierre,  continued  his 
operations  in  San  Antonio  de  Bexar  with  so  much  bold 
ness  that  the  Government  was  soon  in  pursuit  of  him. 
Cordero  said  to  Salcedo  that  one  of  Burr's  associates 
full  of  "cabalistic"  ideas  was  there  engaged  in  foment 
ing  rebellion.1  Could  there  have  been  any  connection 
between  Wilkinson's  idea  of  "fomenting"  a  revolution 
in  Mexico  and  the  original  design  of  the  conspirators  ? 
Who  will  say  there  is  no  relation  between  the  expedi 
tion  of  1806,  the  taking  of  West  Florida  in  1810,  the 
Grito  of  Hidalgo,  and  the  conquest  of  Texas? 

The  sentiment  prevailing  in  New  Orleans  rang  out 
clearly  at  a  banquet  in  May,  1807.  Jefferson,  the  author 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  was  toasted  for 
having  sustained  Wilkinson  in  his  military  arrests,  his 
words  in  that  ever  memorable  document  being  quoted, 
that  one  of  the  crimes  of  a  tyrant  is  that  "He  has  af 
fected  to  render  the  military  independent  of  and  supe 
rior  to  the  civil  power."  Then  Claiborne  was  made  to 
drink  to  Wilkinson,  which  was  at  once  a  taunt  and  a 
revelation :  "The  hero  of  the  Sabine,  may  his  laurels 
be  converted  into  birch  to  scourge  the  enemies  of  his 

'Salcedo  to  Cordero,  March  I,  1807;  MSS.  Bexar  Archives. 
Salcedo  to  Iturrigaray,  March  2,  1807;  MSS.  Carpeta  No.  2, 
Bexar  Archives. 


MEASURES  IN  WASHINGTON      307 

Catholic  Majesty  and  the  advocates  of  Mexican  eman 
cipation."1 

Sharp  and  unrelenting  as  was  the  criticism  urged 
against  the  Governor,  he  had  profited  in  no  wise  from 
his  experience  of  the  past  months.  He  was  still  as 
unstable,  as  pliant,  and  as  incapable  of  grasping  a  situa 
tion  as  when  he  first  came  into  the  government  of  the 
Territory.  To  show  what  absurdities  he  could  enter 
tain,  what  unfounded  situations  he  could  conjure  up, 
one  has  but  to  follow  his  correspondence. 

"I  anticipate  very  considerable  opposition,"  he  said 
to  the  President,2  "in  the  administration  of  this  govern 
ment  ;  the  intrigue  of  the  associates  of  Burr  will  be  con 
tinued,  and  will  principally  be  leveled  against  me.  Gen 
eral  Wilkinson  having  gone,  I  am  perhaps  the  only  officer 
of  the  general  government,  now  here,  who  supports  the 
late  proceedings  in  this  territory;  proceedings  which 
were  influenced  by  the  purest  motives,  and  of  the  pro 
priety  of  which,  taking  them  in  the  aggregate,  I  have 
now  no  doubt." 

He  also  launched  his  suspicions  at  Colonel  Freeman 
of  the  army,  and  at  Brown,  collector  of  the  port.  He 
condemned  Dr.  Watkins,  saying  that  "the  intriguing 
of  designing  men  had  caused  him  to  abandon  those 
principles  which  he  once  professed  and  practiced."  A 
few  weeks  earlier  he  had  said  to  Madison : 

"With  respect  to  Dr.  Watkins,  it  is  due  to  justice  to 
add,  that  I  believe  he  meditated  nothing  against  the 
American  Government — and  that  he  sincerely  loves  his 
country.  I,  however,  am  of  opinion  that  his  zeal  for  the 
liberation  of  the  Mexicans  led  him  into  some  impru- 

*Orleans  Gazette,  May  5,  1807. 

"Claiborne  to  Jefferson,  May  19,  1807;  Jefferson  MSS. 


308  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

dences,  and  under  this  impression,  although  my  private 
regard  for  him  is  considerable,  I  have  withdrawn  my 
official  patronage."1 

Watkins  was  indeed  compelled  to  resign  the  mayor 
alty  of  New  Orleans.  But  Claiborne  certainly  did  not 
consider  in  what  light  he  placed  himself  when  he  ad 
mitted  that  he  was  the  only  official  now  in  the  city  who 
supported  the  "late  proceedings"  in  that  region.  He 
was  unable  to  break  the  spell  which  had  been  cast  over 
J  him.  Believing  the  General  honest,  he  thought  who 
ever  antagonized  his  measures  a  schemer,  a  Burrite. 
Such  a  victim  was  Watkins.  And  Claiborne' s  views 
remained  unregenerate  to  the  last,  although  he  came  to 
confess  what  Jefferson  was  loath  to  believe  and  what 
has  been  denied  by  historians  for  a  century — that  the 
Creoles  were  loyal  to  the  Union ! 

"General  Adair  is  still  here,"  he  related  to  Jefferson, 
"and  daily  in  the  receipt  of  the  most  pointed  attentions 
from  a  portion  of  our  American  society.  He  abuses  our 
government  and  its  officers,  and  denounces  Wilkinson  as 
a  pensioner  of  Spain  and  a  traitor  to  his  country.  If  Burr 
should  be  acquitted,  it  is  probable  we  shall  see  him  here 
also  in  the  fall.  But  I  do  not  think  it  will  be  in  his  power 
to  induce  the  Louisianians  to  favor  his  views  or  plans.  It 
is  a  fact,  sir,  that  the  Louisianians,  I  mean  the  ancient  in 
habitants  of  the  country,  are  now  the  best  supporters  of 
the  American  government."2 

The  Governor  followed  complacently  the  lead  of 
his  military  superior,  who  had  recently  informed  the 
President  that  Adair  was  "capable  of  a  desperate  enter 
prise"  ;  adding,  "Every  day  unfolds  something  of  the 

Claiborne  to  Madison,  March  n,  1807;  Letters  in  Relation. 
'Claiborne  to  Jefferson,  June  28,  1807 ;  Jefferson  MSS. 


MEASURES   IN  WASHINGTON      309 

plot  and  convinces  me  it  is  not  abandoned."  *  But 
Jefferson  was  too  much  engrossed  with  imperative  na 
tional  affairs  to  ask  for  evidence.  He  was  indeed 
obliged  to  credit  the  reports  of  his  officials,  and  if  he 
was  deceived  he  might  plead  in  extenuation  the  exag 
gerations  of  distance  and  the  distemper  of  society  at 
large.  Nevertheless,  with  the  President's  bias  and 
preconceived  notions  of  Burr  it  was  all  too  easy  for  him 
to  believe  in  his  guilt — and  no  surprise  that  the  hue 
of  that  guilt  should  be  as  dark  as  Wilkinson  could 
paint  it.  By  this  time,  indeed,  Jefferson  was  proof 
against  alarms — they  were  out  of  season  to  say  the 
least,  now  that  Burr  and  his  coterie  of  associates  were 
in  the  toils  of  the  law.  There  was,  however,  little 
cause  for  jubilation  at  Washington.  The  acquittal  of 
Bollman,  Swartwout,  and  the  other  minor  characters 
aroused  in  the  Government  a  determination  to  secure  at 
any  cost  the  conviction  of  Burr — the  credit  of  the 
Administration  was  at  stake;  and  in  the  prosecution  of 
the  case  neither  time  nor  money  was  to  be  spared. 
Following  the  resolution  of  the  Cabinet  at  the  end  of 
February,  Rodney  soon  had  printed  lists  of  questions — 
with  an  appeal  to  honest  citizens  to  send  by  affidavit 
their  knowledge  of  the  affair — scattered  throughout  the 
land ;  and  the  Government's  agents  were  searching  for 
evidence  in  every  quarter. 

Wilkinson  to  Jefferson,  April  19,  1807 ;  Letters  in  Relation, 


u 


CHAPTER    XII. 

The  Trial  at  Richmond. 


MARCH  5,  1807,  surrounded  by  a  guard  of 
six  men  under  Nicholas  Perkins,  who  had 
been  instrumental  in  his  interception,  Burr 
set  out  from  Fort  Stoddert  on  the  journey  of  a  thou 
sand  miles  to  Washington.  Twenty-one  days  later  the 
prisoner  was  lodged  in  the  Eagle  Tavern,  Richmond, 
whither  he  had  been  directed  by  order  of  the  Executive. 
The  day  following  he  wrote  his  daughter :  "It  seems 
that  here  the  business  is  to  be  tried  and  concluded.  I 
am  to  be  surrendered  to  the  civil  authority  to-morrow, 
when  the  question  of  bail  is  to  be  determined.  In  the 
meantime  I  remain  at  the  Eagle  Tavern." 

March  3Oth,  in  a  small  room  of  the  Tavern,  Burr 
came  up  for  an  examination  before  Chief-Justice 
Marshall,  in  whose  district  the  alleged  crime,  or  crimes, 
had  been  committed.  George  Hay,  district-attorney 
for  the  United  States,  moved  for  a  commitment  on 
charges  of  misdemeanor  and  treason.  Two  days  of 
argument  followed ;  then  the  Chief- Justice  delivered 
his  opinion : 

"The  fact  to  be  proved  in  this  case  is  an  act  of  public 
notoriety.  It  must  exist  in  the  view  of  the  world,  or  it 
cannot  exist  at  all.  The  assembling  of  forces  to  levy  war 
is  a  visible  transaction,  and  numbers  must  witness  it.  It 
is,  therefore,  capable  of  proof;  and  when  time  to  collect 
this  proof  has  been  given,  it  ought  to  be  adduced,  or  sus 
picion  becomes  ground  too  weak  to  stand  upon.  .  .  . 

310 


THE  TRIAL  AT  RICHMOND       311 

If  in  November  or  December  last,  a  body  of  troops  had 
been  assembled  on  the  Ohio,  it  is  impossible  to  suppose 
that  affidavits  establishing  the  fact  could  not  have  been 
obtained  by  the  last  of  March.  .  .  .  On  the  evidence 
furnished  by  this  very  transaction  of  the  attachment  felt 
by  our  Western  for  their  Eastern  brethren,  we  justly 
felicitate  ourselves.  How  inconsistent  with  this  fact  is 
the  idea,  that  no  man  could  be  found  who  would  volun 
tarily  depose,  that  a  body  of  troops  had  actually  assem 
bled,  whose  object  was  detested  and  defeated  by  the  very 
people  who  could  give  the  requisite  information !  I  can 
not  doubt  that  means  to  obtain  information  have  been 
taken  on  the  part  of  the  prosecution ;  if  it  existed,  I  can 
not  doubt  the  practicability  of  obtaining  it ;  and  its  non- 
production,  at  this  late  hour,  does  not,  in  my  opinion, 
leave  me  at  liberty  to  give  to  those  suspicions  which  grow 
out  of  other  circumstances,  the  weight  to  which  at  an 
earlier  day  they  might  have  been  entitled.  I  shall  not, 
therefore,  insert  in  the  commitment  the  charge  of  high 
treason." 

Accordingly,  the  accused  was  bound  in  the  sum  of 
$10,000  to  appear  at  the  next  term  of  the  Circuit  Court 
to  convene  at  Richmond,  May  22d,  to  answer  the 
charge  of  high  misdemeanor.  Five  securities  presented 
themselves,  and  on  the  afternoon  of  April  ist  Burr  was 
once  more  at  liberty. 

Jefferson  was  enraged  at  this  first  defeat ;  the  prose 
cution  was  nonplussed;  and  ever  since  there  have 
risen  eminent  authorities  to  proclaim  that  throughout 
the  course  of  the  trial  Marshall's  political  bias  and 
personal  dislike  of  Jefferson  warped  his  judgment  in 
favor  of  Burr  to  the  shame  of  the  law  and  the  evidence. 
In  that  they  are  but  consistent.  Treating  the  con 
spiracy  from  first  to  last  as  animated  by  treason,  they 
must  offer  some  explanation  for  the  collapse  of  the  pros- 


3i2  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

ecution ;  and  it  is  much  easier  to  show  that  Burr  escaped 
.through  the  connivance  of  the  judge,  or  by  the  aid  of 
the  Federalists,  who  "affected  to  disbelieve  in  the  con 
spiracy,"  or  through  the  apathy  of  the  Republicans,  who 
"had  never  been  able  to  persuade  themselves  that  the 
Union  was  really  in  danger,"  than  it  is  to  admit  the 
failure  of  the  evidence.  The  logic  of  Marshall's  posi 
tion  was  irresistible.  If  it  was  censorious  and  over- 
severe,  the  fundamental  argument  presented  was  not 
then,  and  has  not  been  to  this  day,  successfully  refuted. 
The  prosecution  read  out  of  it  a  deliberate  expression 
of  doubt  as  to  Burr's  guilt,  while  Jefferson — whether 
from  a  sense  of  culpability  (he  had  not  ordered  a  full 
investigation  of  the  plot  till  the  Cabinet  meeting  of 
February  27th),  or  of  resentment  at  Marshall's  seem 
ing  want  of  respect  for  a  coordinate  branch  of  the 
Government — replied  with  redoubled  energy.  He  said 
plainly  to  Senator  Giles,  who  had  been  foremost  in 
the  assault  on  the  last  stronghold  of  Federalism — the 
Judiciary — that  the  fight  against  this  entrenched 
tyranny  would  not  be  relinquished  and  intimated  that, 
if  Burr  escaped,  Marshall  should  himself  make  answer 
to  the  nation. 

"In  what  terms  of  decency  can  we  speak  of  this  ?  [He 
had  already  referred  to  Marshall's  "tricks  to  force  trials 
before  it  is  possible  to  collect  the  evidence."]1  As  if  an 
express  could  go  to  Natchez  or  the  mouth  of  the  Cumber 
land  and  return  in  five  weeks,  to  do  which  has  never  taken 
less  than  twelve!  .  .  .  But  all  the  principles  of  law 
are  to  be  perverted  which  would  bear  on  the  favorite  of 
fenders  who  endeavor  to  overturn  this  odious  republic! 

'Jefferson  to  Giles,  April  20,  1807;  Jefferson  MSS. 


THE  TRIAL  AT  RICHMOND       313 

.  .  .  The  nation  will  judge  both  the  offender  and  the 
judges  for  themselves.  If  a  member  of  the  Executive  or 
Legislature  does  wrong,  the  day  is  never  far  distant  when 
the  people  will  remove  him.  They  will  see  then  and 
amend  the  error  in  our  Constitution  which  makes  any 
branch  independent  of  the  nation.  ...  If  their  pro 
tection  of  Burr  produces  this  amendment,  it  will  do  more 
good  than  his  condemnation  would  have  done;  .  . 
and  if  his  punishment  can  be  commuted  now  for  a  useful 
amendment  of  the  Constitution,  I  shall  rejoice  in  it." 

The  ultimate  consequences  might  be  this  or  that, 
but  the  first  consideration  to  Jefferson  was  to  secure  the 
conviction  of  Burr.  To  that  end  both  he  and  his 
subordinates  toiled.  Rodney,  operating  from  Wash 
ington,  sent  printed  circulars  to  hamlet  and  country 
side,  inciting  "every  good  citizen  to  step  forward,  and 
communicate  to  the  government  any  information  he 
may  possess  which  may  contribute  to  the  general  wel 
fare."  A  deputy  marshal  and  special  messenger  were 
dispatched  to  Wood  County  to  take  depositions  and  to 
summon  all  the  witnesses  at  and  near  Blennerhassett's 
island ;  while  both  Madison  and  Rodney  wrote  Andrew 
Jackson  in  April,  hoping  to  have  depositions  sent  on 
from  that  quarter  which  would  enable  them  to  commit 
Burr  for  treason.1 

Meanwhile  Wilkinson,  in  New  Orleans — busy  as 
late  as  April  suppressing  the  still  surviving  conspiracy, 
witness  his  letter  to  Jefferson — found  time  to  send  a 
number  of  agents  into  Mississippi  and  elsewhere  to  col 
lect  the  fragments  of  evidence.  He  continually  stimu 
lated  the  President"  s  hopes  by  writing  that  he  would  be 

Rodney  to  Jefferson,  April  10,  1807 ;  also  May  6,  1807 ;  Jeffer 
son  MSS. 


314  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

able  to  bring  undoubted  proof  of  Burr's  guilt.  March 
27th  he  said  that  he  expected  to  prove  that  Burr  had 
sunk  his  own  ordnance  boat — the  commander  of  which 
he  hoped  to  capture — in  the  river  at  Bayou  Pierre,  and 
that  Burr  had  seduced  Sergeant  Dunbaugh  (whom  he 
should  soon  have  in  his  hands)  to  desert  the  service. 
Besides  these  Wilkinson  hoped  to  secure  one  Motley 
who  had  ridden  with  Burr  during  September  and  Octo 
ber,  and  who  knew  his  correspondence  and  designs.1 
Again,  April  3d,  the  General  wrote  on  the  subject  of  his 
search  for  witnesses:  "I  shall  persevere  until  I  have 
obtained  some  more  important  testimony  from  two  or 
three  of  Burr's  confidentials."2  This  sounds  very  unlike 
the  man  Mr.  Adams  assures  us  meant  "to  close  his  eyes 
against  evidence  that  could  compromise  any  citizen"  of 
New  Orleans.3 

The  excitement  occasioned  by  the  appearance  of  the 
expedition  on  the  Mississippi  had  scarcely  begun  to 
subside  when  Jefferson's  hatred  and  jealousy  of  the  op 
posing  political  party  became  still  more  extreme.  This 
was  in  part  due  to  the  fact  that  he  identified  the  Federal 
ists  with  Burr's  friends ;  and  he  not  only  believed  them 
to  be  Burr's  sympathizers,  but  his  active  partisans  as 
well.  He  had  forgotten  that  the  first  attack  on  Burr, 
disorderly  and  unjustified  though  it  was,  had  been  made 
by  the  leaders  of  that  faith  in  Kentucky.  "The  Federal 
ists  have  so  decidedly  made  common  cause  with  Burr," 
he  objected  to  Gallatin,4  "that  if  you  send  a  Federalist 

'Wilkinson  to  Jefferson,  March  27,  1807 ;  Letters  in  Relation. 
'Wilkinson  to  Jefferson,  April  3,  1807;  Jefferson  MSS. 
'History  of  the  United  States,  iii.,  321. 
'Jefferson  to  Gallatin,  March  13,  1807;  Jefferson  MSS. 


THE  TRIAL  AT  RICHMOND       315 

or  a  Burrite  to  the  Orleans  Territory  I  consider  it  the 
same  thing."  Writing  a  few  days  afterwards  to 
George  Morgan,  of  Morganza,  the  President  gave  ex 
pression  to  his  distrust  of  Marshall  and  his  party  :x— 

"Burr  is  on  his  way  to  Richmond  for  trial,  and  if  the 
judges  do  not  discharge  him  before  it  is  possible  to  collect 
the  testimony  from  Maine  to  New  Orleans,  there  can  be 
no  doubt  where  his  history  will  end.  To  what  degree 
punishment  of  his  adherents  shall  be  extended,  will  be 
decided  when  we  shall  have  collected  all  the  evidence,  and 
seen  who  were  cordially  guilty.  The  Federalists  appear 
to  make  Burr's  cause  their  own,  and  spare  no  efforts  to 
screen  his  adherents.  Their  great  mortification  is  at  the 
failure  of  his  plans." 

The  gleam  of  satisfaction  in  the  phrase  that  "there 
can  be  no  doubt  where  his  history  will  end"  was  sud 
denly  overclouded  by  the  shadow  of  Federalism.  There 
can  be  no  denying  the  fact  that  Jefferson  thought  the 
Federalists  capable  of  shielding  traitors;  that  he  be 
lieved,  incorruptible  as  the  great  body  of  the  party 
might  be,  disloyalty  and  disunion  were  their  actuating 
principles.  We  know  this  opinion  to  have  been  extreme, 
but  there  was  indeed  a  numerically  small  but  powerful 
contingent  which  would  have  applauded  the  consum 
mation  of  such  a  programme  as  Burr's  was  declared  to 
be.  There  was  probably,  too,  in  Jefferson's  madness  a 
purpose — no  less  a  one  than  to  bring  the  party  of  the 
opposition  into  final  disruption  by  tainting  it  with 
treason.  Such  inoculation  must  have  proven  fatal. 
It  was  one  of  Jefferson's  ambitions  to  witness  in  his 
time  the  general  acceptance  by  the  American  people  of 
Jefferson  to  George  Morgan,  March  26,  1807;  Jefferson  MSS. 


316  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

the  political  principles  he  professed;  and  that  could 
never  be  until  the  defiant  opposition  was  trampled  under 
in  the  pell-mell  of  universal  Democratic  triumph. 

Jefferson  has  left  us  some  curious  records  concern 
ing  his  opinion  of  the  conspiracy.  In  a  letter  to  James 
Bowdoin,  then  minister  to  Spain,  after  discussing  our 
relations  with  that  power,  he  admitted  what  Randolph 
was  avowing  in  the  House — that  the  hand  of  the  Don 
was  hidden  in  the  Western  intrigue  r1 — 

"Never  did  a  nation  act  towards  another  with  more 
perfidy  and  injustice  than  Spain  has  constantly  practiced 
against  us ;  and  if  we  have  kept  our  hands  off  her  till  now, 
it  has  been  purely  out  of  respect  to  France,  and  from  the 
value  we  set  on  the  friendship  of  France.  We  expect, 
therefore,  from  the  friendship  of  the  Emperor  that  he  will 
either  compel  Spain  to  do  us  justice,  or  abandon  her  to 
us.  We  ask  but  one  month  to  be  in  possession  of  the  City 
of  Mexico.  No  better  proof  of  the  good  faith  of  the 
United  States  could  have  been  given  than  the  vigor  with 
which  we  have  acted  and  the  expense  incurred  in  suppress 
ing  the  enterprise  meditated  lately  by  Burr  against  Mex 
ico,  although  at  first  he  proposed  a  separation  of  the 
western  country,  and  on  that  ground  received  encourage 
ment  and  aid  from  Yrujo,  according  to  the  usual  spirit  of 
his  government  towards  us,  yet  he  very  early  saw  that 
the  fidelity  of  the  western  country  was  not  to  be  shaken 
and  turned  himself  wholly  toward  Mexico,  and  so  popular 
is  an  enterprise  on  that  country  in  this,  that  we  had  only 
to  lie  still  and  he  would  have  had  followers  enough  to 
have  been  in  the  City  of  Mexico  in  six  weeks." 

This  confession  was  as  unexpected  as  it  was  ex 
traordinary.  It  would  have  been  extremely  interesting 
to  have  had  Jefferson  point  out  the  moment  when  Burr 
"turned  himself  wholly  toward  Mexico."  Perhaps  he 

'Jefferson  to  Bowdoin,  April  2,  1807;  Jefferson  MSS. 


THE  TRIAL  AT  RICHMOND       317 

would  have  had  a  more  difficult  task  in  reconciling  his 
own  opinion  of  Burr's  talents  as  an  intriguer  and  the 
unpardonable  blunder  of  failing  to  discover,  till  the 
eleventh  hour,  that  the  frontiersmen  were  ardent  pa 
triots.    "To  lie  still"  and  leave  Mexico  to  the  mercies 
of  the  filibusters  of  the  West  would  have  been  as  easy 
as  closing  his  eyes  when  the  Leander,  commanded  by 
Miranda  and  manned  by  revolutionists,  sailed  from  the; 
port  of  New  York.    Had  the  President  planned  to  lie! 
still  ?    It  seems  in  truth  most  probable.    It  was  the  cry! 
of  treason  that  roused  him.     Jefferson  never  main-- 
tained  for  any  great  length  of  time  the  same  view  of 
the  so-called  conspiracy.    A  few  weeks  after  the  above 
dispatch  he  wrote  another  equally  remarkable. 

"Burr's  conspiracy,"  he  wrote  Dupont  de  Nemours,1 
"has  been  one  of  the  most  flagitious  of  which  history  will 
ever  furnish  an  example.  He  has  combined  the  objects  of 
separating  the  western  states  from  us,  of  adding  Mexico 
to  them,  and  of  placing  himself  at  their  head.  But  he  who 
could  expect  to  effect  such  objects  by  the  aid  of  American 
citizens,  must  be  perfectly  ripe  for  bedlam.  .  .  .  He 
had  probably  induced  near  a  thousand  men  to  engage  with 
him  by  making  them  believe  the  government  connived 
at  it.  ...  A  proclamation  alone,  by  undeceiving 
them,  so  completely  disarmed  him  that  he  had  not  above 
thirty  men  left,  ready  to  go  all  lengths  with  him.  The 
first  enterprise  was  to  have  been  the  seizure  of  New 
Orleans,  which  he  supposed  would  powerfully  bridle  the 
country  above,  and  place  him  at  the  door  of  Mexico.  It 
has  given  me  infinite  satisfaction  that  not  a  single  native 
Creole  of  Louisiana,  and  but  one  American  settled  there 
before  the  delivery  of  the  country  to  us,  were  in  his  inter 
est.  His  partisans  there  were  made  up  of  fugitives  from 
justice  or  from  their  debts  who  flocked  there  from  other 

'Jefferson  to  Dupont  de  Nemours,  July  14,  1807;  Jefferson 
MSS. 


3i8  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

parts  of  the  United  States  after  the  delivery  of  the  coun 
try,  and  the  adventurers  and  speculators  of  all  descrip 
tions." 

That  a  clever  impostor  might  enlist  a  thousand 
Westerners  to  aid  in  the  establishment  of  an  empire 
stretching  from  the  Alleghanies  to  the  Sierra  Madre 
Mountains  by  informing  them  that  the  Government 
connived  at  the  scheme  seemed  to  Jefferson  a  feat  easy 
of  accomplishment,  so  shorn  were  they  of  all  affiliations 
social  and  political.  But  the  Proclamation  changed 
everything  as  at  the  stroke  of  a  magic  wand.  There  is 
grievous  blundering  somewhere.  Either  Burr  engaged 
his  followers  with  the  specific  object  of  invading 
Mexico,  which  the  Government  would  not  oppose,  or 
else  he  was  indeed  a  fit  subject  for  bedlam  along  with 
the  thousand  irresponsibles  reclaimed  by  the  Proclama 
tion.  The  statement  that  none  of  the  Creoles  were  in 
Burr's  interest  places  him  strangely  at  variance  with 
most  of  those  who  have  written  of  the  conspiracy. 
That  Wilkinson  and  Claiborne  should  also  have  come 
in  the  spring  of  1807  to  believe  the  Creoles  the  most 
faithful  of  the  inhabitants  of  Louisiana  was  an  admis 
sion  of  tremendous  import;  an  admission  which  for 
selfish  reasons  they  had  long  refrained  from  making. 

Finally,  May  22d,  the  day  for  the  trial  arrived,  and 
Richmond  was  full  of  strangers.  Some  were  attracted 
by  the  fame  of  the  accused ;  others  by  the  notoriety  of 
the  cause,  while  many  appeared  as  witnesses  in  response 
to  the  summons  of  the  Government.  One  of  these  was 
Commodore  Truxton,  who  was  not  to  be  intimidated 
by  the  Government;  another  was  William  Eaton,  the 


THE  TRIAL  AT  RICHMOND       319 

vaunted  hero  of  Derne,  and  State  witness  second  in 
importance  to  Wilkinson  only ;  there  were  the  Morgans, 
from  Morganza,  whom  the  President  credited  with 
having  given  the  first  notice  of  the  plot,  and  to  whom 
he  had  said,  "You  have  deserved  well  of  your  country."1 
Thither  came  Colonel  De  Pestre,  friend  and  ally  of 
Burr,  whose  honor  the  Government  attempted  to  buy; 
Bollman,  distinguished  for  his  services  to  La  Fayette; 
and  William  Duane,  editor  of  the  Aurora,  ruler  of  the 
politics  of  Pennsylvania  and  would-be  briber  of  Blen- 
nerhassett;  and  Washington  Irving,  then  first  attract 
ing  notice  in  the  field  of  letters.  Likewise  came  Alston, 
who  had  been  ready  to  repudiate  his  father-in-law  when 
he  was  first  accused  of  treason ;  and  Giles,  leader  of  the 
Republicans  in  the  Senate;  and  John  Randolph  of 
Roanoke,  the  brilliant,  eccentric  leader  of  the  Quids  in 
the  House.  At  the  summons  of  the  Government,  An 
drew  Jackson  had  made  his  way  from  Tennessee  to 
Richmond,  where  he  became  at  once  outspoken  in  his 
denunciations  of  Wilkinson  and  the  President.2  Smith 
and  Dayton  moved  around  the  circle  of  associates,  in 
different  as  to  what  action  the  grand  jury  might  take. 
There  was  alsp  Graham,  who  had  tracked  Burr  from 
the  national  Capital  to  the  town  of  Washington  in 
Mississippi,  and  who  was  obliged  in  the  end  to  confess 
that  Burr's  design,  in  the  view  of  the  people,  was  simply 
against  Mexico.  Lastly,  Theodosia,  the  devoted  daugh 
ter,  lent  her  graces  to  the  friends  of  her  father,  who 
were  the  rulers  of  Richmond. 

Jefferson  to  George  Morgan,  March  26,  1807;  Jefferson  MSS. 
2Parton's  Burr,  ii.,   107.     Hay  to  Jefferson,  June  24,   1807; 
Jefferson  MSS. 


320  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

At  half-past  twelve  o'clock,  May  22,  1807,  the  court 
convened,  with  Chief-Justice  Marshall  and  Cyrus 
Griffin  on  the  bench.  Perhaps  the  country  has  never 
seen  another  such  array  of  learning  and  legal  talent 
as  that  which  gathered  within  the  Virginia  House  of 
Burgesses.  First  of  all  was  John  Marshall,  calm, 
deliberate,  and  fearless.  "The  Chief-Justice,  in  his 
fifty-second  year  (one  year  older  than  the  prisoner)," 
to  use  the  language  of  Parton,  "was  a  tall,  slender  man, 
with  a  majestic  head,  without  one  gray  hair,  with  eyes 
the  finest  ever  seen,  except  Burr's,  large,  black,  and 
brilliant  beyond  description.  It  was  often  remarked 
during  the  trial,  that  two  such  pairs  of  eyes  had  never 
looked  into  one  another  before." 

The  accused  was  surrounded  by  the  foremost  law 
yers  of  the  time:  Edmund  Randolph,  delegate  to  the 
Philadelphia  Constitutional  Convention,  and  Attorney- 
General  and  Secretary  of  State  in  the  Cabinet  of  Presi 
dent  Washington;  John  Wickham,  who  was  regarded 
as  the  ablest  lawyer  at  the  Richmond  bar,  possessing 
"wit,  sarcasm,  eloquence,  a  fine  presence  and  a  persuas 
ive  manner";  Benjamin  Botts,  also  of  Virginia,  keen 
witted,  aggressive,  and  hardly  inferior  in  ability  to  his 
associates;  "Jack"  Baker,  who  seems  to  have  been  en 
gaged  on  account  of  his  knowledge  of  Virginia  jury 
men  ;  Charles  Lee,  sometime  Attorney-General  for 
Maryland — a  man  of  fine  mental  gifts:  and  Luther 
Martin,  the  "Thersites  of  the  law,"  who,  in  legal  learn 
ing,  towered  head  and  shoulders  above  those  around 
him,  the  first  lawyer  of  his  time.  Jefferson  called  him 
"Federal  bulldog,"  and  Martin,  in  his  bitterness  and 


THE  TRIAL  AT  RICHMOND        321 

enthusiasm,  proclaimed  the  President  ruthless  and 
tyrannical  in  having  loosed  the  "hell-hounds  of  persecu 
tion"  against  Burr.  Once  before,  in  the  impeachment 
proceedings  against  Justice  Chase,  Martin  had  met  the 
President  in  open  field,  and  he  was  resolved  that  this 
time  the  victory  should  be  no  less  complete. 

On  the  side  of  the  prosecution  there  appeared  no 
such  strength.  Caesar  A.  Rodney,  who  succeeded  to 
the-post  of  Attorney-General  a  month  after  the  death 
of  John  Breckenridge  of  Kentucky,  was  a  lawyer  of 
ordinary  talents.  Realizing  the  hopelessness  of  the 
situation,  or  fearing  to  measure  strength  with  the 
opposition,  he  left  Richmond  after  the  preliminaries 
and  never  returned.  The  brunt  of  the  battle  fell  upon 
the  district-attorney,  George  Hay,  son-in-law  to  James 
Monroe,  who  was  both  willing  and  competent,  and  w,ho 
was  aided  by  frequent  suggestions  from  Jefferson  in 
the  conduct  of  the  case.  The  President,  too,  in  order 
to  strengthen  the  prosecution,  resorted  to  the  expedient 
of  bringing  other  attorneys  into  the  case  at  the  Gov 
ernment's  expense.  William  Wirt,  whose  name  is  asso 
ciated  with  America's  foremost  orators,  was  invited  to 
assist.  The  third  counsel  for  the  prosecution  was  Alex 
ander  McRae,  Lieutenant-Governor  of  Virginia,  who 
was  less  adroit,  less  able  than  his  colleagues.  Such 
being  the  list  of  counsel  engaged,  it  was  at  once  appa 
rent  that  the  defense,  not  to  rate  the  force  of  Burr  who 
in  a  large  measure  directed  his  own  case,  far  outclassed 
the  representatives  of  the  Government,  both  in  point  of 
legal  learning  and  strategic  skill. 

The  depth  of  public  feeling  and  general  belief  in 


322  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

Burr's  guilt  disclosed  itself  in  the  first  proceedings  of 
the  trial — the  selection  of  a  grand  jury.  There  was 
scarcely  one  of  the  panel  who  had  not  made  up  his  mind. 
The  President's  Proclamation,  with  the  depositions  of 
Eaton  and  Wilkinson,  had  caused  them  to  prejudge  the 
case — most  of  them  readily  confessing  it — and  it  was 
noticeable  that  a  majority  of  the  jurors  summoned  by 
the  marshal  were  strong  supporters  of  the  Adminis 
tration — so  noticeable  indeed  that  it  could  not  have 
happened  by  chance.  At  last,  however,  the  jury  was 
sworn  and  John  Randolph  appointed  foreman.  But  no 
indictment  could  be  returned  until  General  Wilkinson 
had  arrived  from  New  Orleans.  Thus  the  public  in 
quisitors  were  compelled  to  adjourn  from  day  to  day 
and  from  week  to  week  awaiting  the  arrival  of  the 
hero  from  the  South,  who  seemed  to  care  little  when 
the  trial  began,  or  what  inconveniences  his  tardiness 
occasioned,  so  long  as  he  could  bring  with  him  the  wit 
nesses  he  had  promised  Jefferson.  Twenty-four  days 
after  the  opening  of  the  court  he  finally  made  his  ap 
pearance. 

Meanwhile  Marshall  had  not  been  idle.  Hay  had 
moved  the  commitment  of  Burr  on  the  charge  of 
treason,  alleging  that  the  approach  of  Wilkinson  might 
put  him  to  flight.  "On  his  examination,"  said  the 
prosecutor,  "there  was  no  evidence  of  an  overt  act,  and 
he  was  committed  for  a  misdemeanor  only.  The  evi 
dence  is  different  now."  The  defense  immediately 
grappled  with  the  problem,  which  was  clearly  to  restrict 
the  latitude  of  the  Government's  action,  to  prevent  a 
premature  disclosure  of  the  testimony.  To  commit 


THE  TRIAL  AT  RICHMOND       323 

Burr  for  treason  would  involve  the  examination  of 
witnesses  viva  voce,  and  the  order  of  the  examination 
precipitated  the  question  which  became  the  chief  con 
tention  of  the  counsel:  What  testimony  was  admis 
sible?  It  was  in  this  connection  that  the  definition  of 
the  crime  of  high  treason  under  the  Constitution  was 
elaborated — the  definition  which  is  still  held  by  the 
courts. 

"In  England,"  declared  Botts,  "where  conspiring  the 
death  of  the  King  was  treason,  the  quo  animo  formed 
the  essence  of  the  offense ;  but  in  America  the  national 
convention  has  confined  treason  to  the  act.  We  cannot 
have  a  constructive  war  within  the  meaning  of  the  Con 
stitution.  An  intention  to  levy  war  is  not  evidence  that 
war  was  levied." 

The  contention  of  the  defense  was  that  to  establish 
the  crime  of  high  treason  it  must  first  be  proved  that  a 
war  consisting  of  acts  had  transpired;  secondly,  that 
an  overt  act  of  treason  had  been  committed  in  the  war ; 
thirdly,  that  the  accused  committed  an  overt  (not  a 
covert)  act  in  the  war — to  which  two  witnesses  must 
testify — and  within  the  district  in  which  the  trial  is 
ordered.  Marshall  declared  this  interpretation  to  be 
correct;  and  the  whole  scheme  of  the  prosecution  was 
undone.  Hay  and  Jefferson  were  both  perplexed  and 
enraged  and  made  but  a  feeble  attempt  to  prove  that 
an  act  of  war — which  was  only  the  first  of  several  steps 
— had  been  committed  on  Blennerhassett's  island  the 
night  of  December  10,  1806.  Hay  realized  the  futility 
of  his  efforts  to  commit  on  the  charge  of  treason,  and 
was  only  too  glad  to  escape  further  mortification  in 


324  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

ending  the  matter  by  Burr's  voluntary  doubling  of  his 
bond. 

A  counter-move  had  been  made  meanwhile  by  the 
defendant.  This  was  a  motion  for  a  subpoena  duces 
tecum  to  be  directed  to  the  President  who  had  in  his 
possession,  it  was  alleged,  certain  letters  from  Wilkin 
son  which  were  deemed  material  to  the  defense.  Burr 
had,  on  a  visit  to  Washington,  made  a  personal  request 
for  copies  of  the  General's  letter  of  October  21,  1806, 
and  of  the  orders  which  had  been  issued  to  the  army  and 
navy  concerning  himself — and  had  been  refused.  Would 
a  subpoena  duces  tecum  produce  a  better  result?  Had  it 
been  a  part  of  the  programme  of  the  defense  to  throw 
odium  on  the  Executive  no  more  ingenious  method 
could  have  been  devised.  Abundant  opportunity  was 
offered  for  declamation  against  the  despotism  of  the 
Government  and  against  the  persecution  to  which  Burr 
had  been  subjected. 

"All  that  we  want  is  the  copies  of  some  papers,"  burst 
out  Luther  Martin,  "and  the  original  of  another.  This  is 
a  peculiar  case,  sir.  The  President  has  undertaken  to 
prejudge  my  client  by  declaring  that  'of  his  guilt  there 
can  be  no  doubt/  He  has  assumed  the  knowledge  of  the 
Supreme  Being  himself,  and  pretended  to  search  the 
heart  of  my  highly  respected  friend.  He  has  proclaimed 
him  a  traitor  in  the  face  of  that  country  which  has  re 
warded  him.  He  has  let  slip  the  dogs  of  war,  the  hell 
hounds  of  persecution,  to  hunt  down  my  friend.  And 
would  this  President  of  the  United  States,  who  has  raised 
all  this  absurd  clamor,  pretend  to  keep  back  the  papers 
which  are  wanted  for  this  trial,  where  life  itself  is  at 
stake  ?  It  is  a  sacred  principle,  that  in  all  such  cases,  the 
accused  has  the  right  to  all  the  evidence  which  is  neces 
sary  for  his  defense." 


THE  TRIAL  AT  RICHMOND       325 

If  this  arraignment  was  unnecessarily  severe,  the 
justice  of  the  central  theme  could  scarcely  be  ques 
tioned.  Nor  did  the  gentlemen  of  the  prosecution 
attempt  it.  On  the  other  hand,  they  were  as  ready  to 
undertake  the  defense  of  the  President  as  Martin  had 
been  to  assail  him.  What  is  more,  they  were  as  bold 
to  assert  the  guilt  of  Burr  as  ever  Jefferson  had  been. 
"Before  the  gentlemen  arraign  the  Administration," 
retorted  Wirt,  "let  them  clear  the  skirts  of  their  client. 
Let  them  prove  his  innocence." 

Wirt  unconsciously  expressed  the  real  situation- 
Burr  was  on  trial  to  show  that  the  warp  and  woof  of 
his  garment  were  spotless;  and  many  another  before 
him,  and  after,  has  been  likewise  compelled.  Innocent 
till  proven  guilty  is  a  principle  of  our  jurisprudence  of 
which  we  sometimes  boast  when  complaining  of  the 
legal  procedure  of  other  lands.  That  a  letter  might  aid 
in  making  a  defense — a  claim  we  know  to  have  been 
well  founded — failed  to  appeal  to  the  President ;  he  was 
already  certain  that  the  traitor  had  too  long  enjoyed 
repose  and  immunity.  But  if  Jefferson  chose  not  to 
yield  up  the  correspondence,  what  might  not  the  law 
impose?  And  Marshall  decided  June  I3th,  after  sev 
eral  days  of  argument,  that  the  subpoena  might  issue. 

"If,  upon  any  principle,"  ran  the  heart  of  the  opinion, 
"the  President  could  be  construed  to  stand  exempt  from 
the  general  provisions  of  the  Constitution,  it  would  be 
because  his  duties  as  chief  magistrate  demand  his  whole 
time  for  national  objects.  But  it  is  apparent  that  this 
demand  is  not  unremitting;  and  if  it  should  exist  at  the 
time  when  his  attendance  on  a  court  is  required,  it  would 
be  sworn  on  the  return  of  the  subpoena,  and  would  rather 


326  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

constitute  a  reason  for  not  obeying  the  process  of  the 
court  than  a  reason  against  its  being  issued.  ...  It 
cannot  be  denied  that  to  issue  a  subpoena  to  a  person  fill 
ing  the  exalted  station  of  the  chief  magistrate  is  a  duty 
which  would  be  dispensed  with  much  more  cheerfully 
than  it  would  be  performed ;  but  if  it  be  a  duty,  the  court 
can  have  no  choice  in  the  case." 

There  was  no  answer  to  this  argument,  and  yet 
Jefferson — lashed  into  a  violent  rage  by  Martin's  criti 
cisms  of  his  conduct  in  the  trial  of  Smith  and  Ogden 
in  New  York  for  complicity  with  Miranda,  the  Cabinet 
having  been  instructed  to  disregard  the  summons  of  the 
court,  and  by  Marshall's  decision  which  drew  a  line 
between  Jefferson  the  Executive  and  Jefferson  the  citi 
zen — essayed  a  reply : 

"The  leading  feature  of  our  Constitution,"  he  said 
fretfully  to  Hay,1  "is  the  independence  of  the  Legislative, 
Executive,  and  Judiciary  of  each  other;  and  none  are 
more  jealous  of  this  than  the  Judiciary.  But  would  the 
Executive  be  independent  of  the  Judiciary  if  he  were 
subject  to  the  commands  of  the  latter,  and  to  imprison 
ment  for  disobedience ;  if  the  smaller  courts  could  bandy 
him  from  pillar  to  post,  keep  him  constantly  trudging 
from  north  to  south  and  east  and  west,  and  withdraw  him 
entirely  from  his  executive  duties?" 

Taking  everything  into  account,  Jefferson's  posi 
tion  was  unassailable,  but  he  had  gone  wide  of  the 
Chief- Justice's  line  of  argument;  Jefferson  knew  that 
the  Chief  Executive  had  no  prerogatives  which  absolved 
him  from  the  obligations  of  citizenship.  The  long  and 
short  of  the  matter  was  that  he  meant  to  exclude  the 
General's  correspondence  from  the  trial.  Had  the  dis.- 
patch  of  October  2ist  been  produced,  it  might  have 

Jefferson  to  Hay;  Jefferson  MSS. 


THE  TRIAL  AT  RICHMOND       327 

served  as  a  prelude  for  the  rendering  of  the  whole  of 
Wilkinson's  discordant  letters,  which  neither  the  powers 
of  the  President  nor  the  genius  of  the  General  could 
have  made  to  harmonize.  That  Jefferson,  who  denied 
the  letters  under  the  pretext  of  their  confidential  nature, 
deliberately  violated  the  law  which  had  found  its 
development  in  the  long  struggle  for  personal  liberty, 
it  would  be  unfair  to  assume;  but  his  conscience  in 
this  instance  was  easily  satisfied.  Years  afterwards  he 
wrote  to  John  Adams,  his  old  adversary,  "We  have, 
willingly,  done  injury  to  no  man."  1  Some  of  those 
interested  in  the  trial  at  Richmond  might  have  taken 
issue  with  the  avowal.  However,  holding  such  an 
estimate  of  the  rectitude  of  his  conduct,  he  was  excus 
able  if  his  human  instinct  for  retaliation  came  into  play 
when  Luther  Martin,  referring  to  the  denial  of  the 
letters,  inveighed  that  the  author  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  and  believer  in  the  doctrine  that  the 
world  was  too  much  governed  was  playing  tyrant  in  a 
way  not  unworthy  of  King  George  himself.  The  charge 
drove  Jefferson  into  gusts  of  passion.  Fearful  of  the 
waxing  strength  of  the  Judiciary,  he  meant  to  defy  to 
the  utmost  the  decrees  of  the  court ;  if  it  came  to  that  he 
would  meet  force  with  force,  and  while  awaiting  devel 
opments  he  gave  private  notice  that  if  Marshall  planned, 
by  his  odious  measures,  to  precipitate  a  contest  between 
the  two  departments  of  the  Government,  he  should  be 
notified  by  express.2  It  was  one  thing  to  decide  that  a 
subpoena  duces  tecum  might  issue  and  quite  another  to 

Works,  vii.,  154. 

2Jefferson  to  [Hay?    No  date] ;  Jefferson  MSS. 


328  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

see  the  writ  enforced.  Marshall  realized  that  civil  war 
would  be  the  final  outcome — and  the  matter  was  quietly 
dropped.  Another  prerogative  was  thereby  added  to 
the  Presidential  Office.  To  defy  Marshall,  however, 
was  easier  than  to  stay  the  right  of  free  speech;  and 
while  this  was  preserved  an  enemy  more  to  be  dreaded 
than  a  posse  comitatus  continued  his  stinging  attacks. 

Luther  Martin  was  that  enemy.  Of  Jefferson  he 
asked  no  quarter  and  gave  none — "My  head  or  yours," 
in  the  legend  of  the  Orient,  might  have  been  the  chal 
lenge — for  Burr's  cause  was  Martin's.  Jefferson  read 
out  of  this  ardent  friendship  a  community  of  interest 
embracing  misprision  of  treason. 

"Shall  we  move  to  commit  Luther  Martin,"  wrote 
Jefferson  to  Hay,  "as  particeps  criminis  with  Burr? 
Graybell  will  fix  upon  him  misprision  of  treason  at  least. 
And  at  any  rate  his  evidence  will  put  down  this  unprin 
cipled  and  impudent  Federal  bulldog,  and  add  another 
proof  that  the  most  clamorous  defenders  of  Burr  are  all 
his  accomplices."1 

Nothing  more  was  heard  of  Graybell,  but  Martin 
bated  never  a  whit  of  his  ardor ;  and  the  arrival  of  Wil 
kinson  at  this  juncture  introduced  an  element  of  much 
greater  interest  into  the  case,  and  the  side  quarrel  was 
forgotten.  June  I5th  the  General  appeared  in  Rich 
mond.  For  almost  a  month  the  grand  jury  had  been 
awaiting  his  arrival.  It  was  therefore  apparent  that 
upon  him  the  prosecution  leaned  its  weight. 

"Mr.  Hay  tells  us,"  declared  Edmund  Randolph  in  de 
bate,  "that  everything  depends  upon  this  same  James 
Wilkinson;  that  he  is  in  reality  the  alpha  and  omega  of 
the  present  prosecution.  He  is  in  short,  to  support  the 

^Jefferson  to  Hay,  June  19,  1807;  Works,  v.,  98. 


THE  TRIAL  AT  RICHMOND       329 

sing-song  and  the  ballads  of  treason  and  conspiracy, 
which  we  have  heard  delivered  from  one  extremity  of  the 
continent  to  the  other." 

Wilkinson  had  only  begun  his  narrative  before  the 
jurymen  when,  June  i/th,  he  dispatched  to  the  Presi 
dent  a  letter  which  was  not  only  an  appeal  for  help, 
but  an  irrepressible  outcry  against  a  Nemesis  which 
threatened  to  sweep  him  and  his  plots  into  oblivion. 
It  was  characteristic  of  the  man — whose  agent  had 
just  returned  empty-handed  from  Mexico,  and  who 
had  come  to  Richmond  with  witnesses  under  mili 
tary  duress — to  explain  to  Jefferson  that  he  had  devoted 
most  of  the  time  since  his  arrival  to  the  Vindica 
tion  of  his  own  fame'  rather  than  to  the  "crimina 
tion  of  the  abandoned  wretch  who  had  dared  to  impli 
cate  it."  * 

"I  dreampt  not  of  the  importance  attached  to  my 
presence,"  he  continued,  "before  I  reached  Hampton, 
.  .  .  for  I  had  anticipated  that  a  deluge  of  testimony 
would  have  been  poured  forth  from  all  quarters  to  over 
whelm  him  [Burr]  with  guilt  and  dishonor.  Sadly,  in 
deed,  was  I  mistaken,  and  to  my  astonishment  I  found  the 
traitor  vindicated  and  myself  condemned  by  a  mass  of 
wealth,  character,  influence,  and  talents. — Merciful  God, 
what  a  spectacle  did  I  behold — integrity  and  truth  per 
verted  and  trampled  under  foot  by  turpitude  and  guilt, 
patriotism  appalled  and  usurpation  triumphant.  Did  I 
ever  expect  it  would  depend  on  my  humble  self  to  stop 
the  current  of  such  a  polluted  stream  ?  Never,  never." 

In  the  whole  annals  of  the  conspiracy  there  is 
nothing  quite  as  becoming,  as  apropos  to  the  situation, 
as  Wilkinson's  pose  of  injured  hero.  That  he  was 
much  disturbed  at  the  paucity  of  the  evidence  is  likely ; 

1Wilkinson  to  Jefferson,  June  17,  1807;  Letters  in  Relation. 


330  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

but  he  was  conscious  that  for  seven  months  he  had  left 
nothing  undone  to  contribute  his  quota  to  the  "deluge." 
The  same  letter  contained  a  succinct  account  of  his 
advent  into  court,  and  of  his  meeting  with  Burr : 

"I  was  introduced  to  a  position  within  the  bar  very 
near  my  adversary.  I  saluted  the  bench  and  in  spite  of 
myself  my  eyes  darted  a  flash  of  indignation  at  the  little 
traitor,  on  whom  they  continued  fixed  until  I  was  called 
to  the  Book ; — here,  sir,  I  found  my  expectations  verified 
— this  lion-hearted,  eagle-eyed  Hero,  jerking  under  the 
weight  of  conscious  guilt,  with  haggard  eyes  in  an  effort 
to  meet  the  indignant  salutation  of  outraged  honor ;  but  it 
was  in  vain,  his  audacity  failed  him.  He  averted  his 
face,  grew  pale,  and  affected  passion  to  conceal  his  per 
turbation." 

Washington  Irving,  who  was  an  eye-witness,  has 
also  left  us  an  account  of  this  incident : 

"Wilkinson  strutted  into  court,  and  took  his  stand  in  a 
parallel  line  with  Burr  on  his  right  hand.  Here  he  stood 
for  a  moment  swelling  like  a  turkey-cock,  and  bracing 
himself  up  for  the  encounter  of  Burr's  eye.  The  latter 
did  not  take  any  notice  of  him  until  the  judge  directed 
the  clerk  to  swear  General  Wilkinson ;  at  the  mention  of 
the  name  Burr  turned  his  head,  looked  him  full  in  the 
face  with  one  of  his  piercing  regards,  swept  his  eye  over 
his  whole  person  from  head  to  foot,  as  if  to  scan  its  di 
mensions,  and  then  coolly  resumed  his  former  position, 
and  went  on  conversing  with  his  counsel  as  tranquilly  as 
ever.  The  whole  look  was  over  in  an  instant ;  but  it  was 
an  admirable  one.  There  was  no  appearance  of  study  or 
constraint  in  it ;  no  affectation  of  disdain  or  defiance ;  a 
slight  expression  of  contempt  played  over  his  counte 
nance."1 

There  can  be  no  hesitation  in  saying  which  is 
the  truer  picture.  Wilkinson's  letter  was  remarkably 
diplomatic,  and,  though  displaying  villainy  in  every 

*Life  and  Letters  of  Washington  Irving,  i.,  194. 


THE  TRIAL  AT  RICHMOND       331 

line,  worked  its  purpose  with  Jefferson.  The  plaintive 
tone  appealed  to  the  President  and  he  hastened  with 
his  sympathy  and  encouragement. 

"Your  enemies,"  he  returned  promptly,1  "have  filled 
the  public  ear  with  slanders  and  your  mind  with  trouble 
on  that  account.  The  establishment  of  their  guilt  will  let 
the  world  see  what  they  ought  to  think  of  their  clamors ; 
it  will  dissipate  the  doubts  of  those  who  doubted  for  want 
of  knowledge,  and  will  place  you  on  higher  ground  in  the 
public  estimate  and  public  confidence.  No  one  is  more 
sensible  than  myself  of  the  injustice  which  has  been  aimed 
at  you.  Accept,  I  pray  you,  my  salutations  and  assurances 
of  respect  and  esteem." 

Sincerity  pervaded  every  line  of  this  letter;  and, 
since  he  thought  Wilkinson  honest,  he  regarded  all 
those  who  antagonized  him  as  sympathizers  with  the 
conspirators.  They  were  to  be  rebuked  by  the  con 
viction  of  Burr.  Three  months  before  this,  how 
ever,  it  had  been  determined  that  Wilkinson  was  to 
be  sustained.  When  Major  Bruff  reached  Washing 
ton  in  March,  1807,  Dearborn  heard  Wilkinson  ac 
cused  of  being  a  spy  of  Spain  and  of  having  been  in 
league  with  Burr;  but  the  Secretary,  who  knew  that 
Bruff  and  the  General  had  been  quarreling  for  more 
than  a  year,  filing  charges  and  counter-charges  against 
each  other,  informed  Bruff  that  Wilkinson  had  restored 
his  waning  reputation  by  the  energy  displayed  in  the 
defense  of  New  Orleans,  and  that  the  President  would 
not  desert  him — at  some  later  time  an  inquiry  might  be 
ordered.  The  Attorney-General  stated  the  situation 
more  pointedly.  He  asked  Bruff,  "What  would  be  the 

^'Jefferson  to  Wilkinson,  June  21,  1807;  Jefferson  MSS. 


332  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 


!  result  if  all"  the  charges  against  General  Wilkinson 
"should  be  proven  ?  Why,  just  what  the  Federalists  and 
the  enemies  of  the  present  Administration  wish — it 
would  turn  the  indignation  of  the  people  from  Burr  on 
Wilkinson ;  Burr  would  escape,  and  Wilkinson  take  his 

Xlace."  x 
Scarcely  had  the  General  had  time  to  take  comfort 
rom  the  President's  letter  of  June  2ist  when  the  de 
fense  prayed  for  an  attachment  against  him  for  con 
tempt  of  court. 

"The  charge  against  General  Wilkinson  was,"  to  use 
Randolph's  language,  "that  he  had,  in  conjunction  with 
others,  used  unlawful  and  oppressive  means,  under  color 
and  in  abuse  of  the  process  of  this  court,  to  bring  James 
Knox  and  Chandler  Lindsley  from  New  Orleans  to  this 
city ;  and  thus  had  obstructed  the  free  course  of  testimony, 
and  the  fair  and  regular  administration  of  justice." 

The  twenty-fourth  of  June,  while  a  heated  debate 
over  the  question  of  the  attachment  was  in  progress, 
the  grand  jury  filed  in  and  reported  two  indictments 
against  Aaron  Burr — one  for  misdemeanor,  the  other 
for  treason.  Similar  indictments  were  returned  against 
Blennerhassett.  Wilkinson  had  done  part  of  the  work 
necessary  to  save  his  official  head ;  but  he  had  accom 
plished  it  at  extreme  peril,  narrowly  escaping  indict 
ment  himself.  John  Randolph,  his  vindictive  enemy 
and  foreman  of  the  grand  jury,  has  left  us  an  inter 
esting  record  of  Wilkinson's  appearance  before  that 
body.  He  said  in  a  letter  to  Nicholson  :2  "Under  exam 
ination  all  was  confusion  of  language  and  of  looks. 

1 Annals  of  Congress,  1807-08,  p.  600. 
'Adams,  iii..  457. 


THE  TRIAL  AT  RICHMOND       333 

Such  a  countenance  never  did  I  behold;  there  was 
scarcely  a  variance  of  opinion  among  us  as  to  his  guilt." 
Had  Wilkinson  read  this  account,  his  challenge  of  Ran 
dolph  to  a  duel  would  scarcely  have  been  delayed  until 
December;  and  Randolph  would  have  written  earlier 
the  very  excuse  Wilkinson  himself  had  offered  Swart- 
wout  when  invited  by  the  latter  to  settle  their  disputes 
on  the  field  of  honor :  "In  you,  sir,"  said  Randolph,  "I 
can  recognize  no  right  to  hold  me  accountable  for  my 
public  or  private  opinion  of  your  character,  ...  I 
cannot  descend  to  your  level."1 

In  another  letter  Randolph  went  more  into  detail, 
telling  of  the  labors  of  the  grand  jury  and  stating  more 
emphatically  his  opinion  of  the  General : 

"Yesterday  the  grand  jury  found  bills  for  treason  and 
misdemeanor  against  Burr  and  Blennerhassett  una  voce, 
and  this  day  presented  Jonathan  Dayton,  ex-senator  John 
Smith  of  Ohio,  Comfort  Tyler,  Israel  Smith  of  New 
York,  and  Davis  Floyd  of  Indiana,  for  treason;  but  the 
mammoth  of  iniquity  escaped, — not  that  any  man  pretended 
to  think  him  innocent,  but  upon  certain  wire-drawn  dis 
tinctions  that  I  will  not  pester  you  with.  Wilkinson  is  the  \ 
only  man  that  I  ever  saw  who  was  from  the  bark  to  the 
very  core  a  villain.  The  proof  is  unquestionable ;  but,  < 
my  good  friend,  I  cannot  enter  upon  it  here.  Suffice  it 
to  say  that  I  have  seen  it,  and  that  it  is  not  susceptible 
of  misconstruction.  Burr  supported  himself  with  great 
fortitude.  He  was  last  night  lodged  in  the  common  jail 
(we  have  no  State  prison  except  for  convicts),  where  I 
dare  say  he  slept  sounder  than  I  did.  Perhaps  you  never 
saw  human  nature  in  so  degraded  a  situation  as  in  the 
person  of  Wilkinson  before  the  grand  jury ;  and  yet  this 
man  stands  on  the  very  summit  and  pinnacle  of  Exec 
utive  favor,  while  James  Monroe  is  denounced."2 

^Political  Pamphlets,  vol.  cv.;  Library  of  Congress. 
"Adams,  iii.,  457. 


334  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

Randolph's  estimate  of  Wilkinson's  character  has 
been  conspicuously  borne  out  by  history,  and  further 
attests  the  penetrative  genius  of  the  statesman  of 
Roanoke.  Although  he  failed  to  secure  an  indictment 
against  the  General,  those  who  knew  the  tenacity 
with  which  he  pursued  his  ends  could  not  but  expect 
another  struggle — and  they  were  not  disappointed. 
The  streets  of  the  capital  of  Virginia  were  scarcely 
abandoned  by  the  crowd — it  was  the  last  day  of  1807 — 
when  Randolph  arose  in  Congress,  read  a  number  of 
documents  bearing  on  Wilkinson's  early  relations  with 
the  Spaniards,  and  offered  the  following  Resolution : 

"Resolved,  That  the  President  of  the  United  States  be 
requested  to  cause  an  inquiry  to  be  instituted  into  the 
conduct  of  Brigadier-General  Wilkinson,  commander-in- 
chief  of  the  armies  of  the  United  States,  in  relation  to  his 
having,  at  any  time,  while  in  the  service  of  the  United 
States,  corruptly  received  money  from  the  government  of 
Spain  or  its  agents."1 

From  the  first  it  was  Randolph's  purpose  to  show 
that  Wilkinson,  for  a  long  period  of  years,  had  been 
playing  a  double  role — that  he  had  not  only  been  once 
in  league  with  Baron  de  Carondelet  in  the  Spanish  Con 
spiracy,  but  that  he  still  preserved  that  connection ;  that 
he  had  been  a  coadjutor  of  Burr  in  a  plot  which 
embraced  the  vital  principle  of  the  older  treason,  while 
posing  before  the  world  as  an  ardent,  maligned  patriot. 
In  his  anxiety  to  incriminate  Jefferson  with  the  man 
whom  he  considered  a  double  traitor,  Randolph  went 
headlong  to  his  own  political  ruin.  It  is  probable  indeed 

1 Annals  of  Congress,  1807-08,  p.  1261. 


THE  TRIAL  AT  RICHMOND       335 

that  he  sought  more  to  prevent  the  succession  of  Madi 
son  than  to  punish  Wilkinson;  in  either  case  the  end 
sought  was  the  same — a  Spanish  war,  which  would 
mean  the  overthrow  of  his  political  adversaries,  who 
had  so  long  procrastinated.  He  would  compel  the  war 
by  proving  that  James  Wilkinson,  General  of  the  Army 
of  the  United  States,  had  accepted  money  from  Don 
Carlos  to  divide  the  Union  by  the  Alleghanies.  Does 
not  the  "Constitution  enjoin,"  queried  Randolph,  "that 
the  persons  holding  authority  under  this  Government 
should  not  accept  of  any  present,  even  of  a  compliment 
ary  nature,  from  any  foreign  Prince  or  Power  without 
the  consent  of  Congress?"  Another  day,  during  the 
debate  on  his  resolution,  in  reply  to  the  question, 
whether  there  was  not  a  motion  before  the  grand  jury 
to  find  a  bill  against  General  Wilkinson,  Randolph  said 
reminiscently  that  "There  was  before  the  grand  jury  a 
motion  to  present  General  Wilkinson  for  misprision  of 
treason" ;  that  he  had  escaped  on  a  "legal  exception  or  a 
fraud ;  but  the  jury  was  unanimous  in  the  belief  of  the 
moral  guilt  of  the  party."1  The  truth  was  the  General 
had  been  saved  by  those  of  the  jury  who  realized  what 
the  prosecution  confessed,  that  if  Burr  was  to  be  con 
victed  it  must  be  by  Wilkinson's  testimony.  He  was 
therefore  saved  by  a  close  vote — nine  to  seven,  accord 
ing  to  a  member  of  the  grand  jury  who  subsequently 
( 181 1 )  testified  before  a  committee  of  Congress,  which 
body  was  still  probing  for  the  rottenness  they  believed  to 
exist,  but  which  defied  their  most  searching  investiga 
tions.  For  the  leading  State  witness  so  narrowly  to 

1  Annals  of  Congress,  1807-08,  p.  1397- 


336  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

escape  an  indictment  was  a  fate  peculiarly  surprising 
and  melancholy.  The  failure  of  the  attachment  pro 
ceedings  against  the  General  brought  him  no  consola 
tion — shocked,  he  went  again  with  falsehoods  to  Jeffer 
son  for  relief. 

"You  are  doubtless  well  advised  of  the  proceedings 
here  in  the  case  of  Burr,"  he  apologetically  began;  "to 
me  they  are  incomprehensible  as  I  am  no  jurist.  The 
grand  jury  actually  made  an  attempt  to  present  me  for 
suspicion  of  treason  on  the  ground  of  having  failed  to 
report  Dayton  to  you.  I  feel  myself  between  Scylla  and 
Charybdis.  The  jury  would  dishonor  me  for  failing  in 
my  duty,  and  Burr  and  his  conspirators  for  perform 
ing  it."1 

More  than  a  year  afterward  he  still  complained  of 
the  arrows  of  outrageous  fortune.  To  Simon  de  Her- 
rera  he  wrote,  October  12,  1808 : 

"It  has  ever  been  the  lot  of  men  in  exalted  station  to  be 
traduced  by  those  who  envy  actions  they  cannot  emulate ; 
and  it  is  equally  true  that  the  arrestation  of  a  vicious 
career,  and  the  prostration  of  sinister  ambition,  have  al 
ways  excited  the  most  vindictive  passions  of  the  human 
breast.  It  is  my  misfortune  that  I  should  be  able  to  illus 
trate  these  diabolical  propensities  in  the  infamous  at 
tempts  made  by  the  traitorous  compeers  and  partisans  of 
Burr,  upon  my  fame  and  fortune ;  because  the  inclinations 
of  my  heart,  the  dictates  of  my  honor,  and  the  obligations 
of  duty,  compelled  me  to  discomfit  his  vile  complottings 
against  the  United  States  and  the  dominions  of  Spain."2 

Then  he  said  that  among  a  hundred  other  base  calumnies 
it  had  been  asserted  that  he  had  entered  into  a  truce 
with  the  enemy  on  the  Sabine  and  had  received  as  com 
pensation  several  mule-loads  of  dollars.  "This  is  a 

1Wilkinson  to  Jefferson,  June  29,  1807;  Jefferson  MSS. 
^Wilkinson  to  Herrera,  October  12,  1808;  Jefferson  MSS. 


THE  TRIAL  AT  RICHMOND       337 

poor  reward  for  having  preserved  the  peace  and  pro 
tected  the  honor  of  my  country,  and  for  sparing  the 
blood  of  innocent  men."  He  appealed  for  a  testimonial 
"to  silence  this  base  slander  and  to  put  its  execrable 
authors  to  shame."  But  Captain  Hughes,  who  had  the 
honor  to  deliver  the  letter  to  the  Colonel  in  San  An 
tonio,  returned  unburdened  with  any  written  message. 
Were  we  not  acquainted  with  the  inner  workings 
of  Wilkinson's  manoeuvres  during  this  period,  he  would 
have  our  sympathy  in  this  gloomy  hour  when  it  seemed 
his  own  misdeeds  were  about  to  overwhelm  him.  One 
is  startled  into  admiration  by  the  very  audacity  and 
sang-froid  of  the  man.  He  who  had  sent  Burling  to 
Mexico  could  say  to  the  President  i1 — 

"I  know,  sir,  that  I  have  saved  this  country  from 
anarchy  at  least — and  I  believe  that  I  have  defeated  tho 
last  hope  of  your  personal  and  political  enemies;  these 
reflections  passed  to  the  amount  of  gratitude  and  pat- 
triotism,  furnish  an  endless  source  of  self  applause  and 
will  soothe  the  pillow  of  death ;  and  when  the  object  ceases 
to  be,  the  angry  passions  will  slumber,  candor  and  truth 
will  resume  their  empire,  and  posterity  will  do  justice  to 
my  name  and  service." 

With  phenomenal  success  Wilkinson  played  the 
part  of  the  wronged  and  injured  savior  of  his  country, 
maintaining  that  the  very  people  he  had  rescued  were 
become  his  revilers. 

As  the  time  approached  for  the  real  work  of  the 

trial  it  was  discovered  by  the  Government  that  the  case 

needed  strengthening.    As  a  last  resort  patronage  and 

the  pardoning  power  of  the  Executive  were  to  be  in- 

*Wilkinson  to  Jefferson,  April  15,  1807;  Letters  in  Relation. 


338  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

voked.  The  latter  weapon  had  been  suggested  by 
Wilkinson  as  early  as  February,  when  he  had  said  to 
the  President  that  by  sending  Tyler  around  he  might  be 
induced  to  give  important  testimony,  provided  he  were 
given  a  pardon.1  Upon  the  General's  arrival  in  Rich 
mond  he  informed  Jefferson  of  De  Pestre's  presence 
and  of  his  belief  that  De  Pestre  knew  much  which  might 
be  drawn  from  him  by  presenting  him  with  a  pardon 
the  day  he  was  examined.2  The  suggestion  was  not 
unheeded.  The  Government's  agent  "had  the  delicacy 
to  insinuate  how  handsomely  the  colonel  [De  Pestre] 
might  be  provided  for  in  the  army,  if  his  principles  or 
engagements  were  not  averse  to  the  Administration."* 
Jefferson  was  determined  that  at  least  one  man  should 
receive  the  full  penalty  of  the  law,  and  he  was  probably 
never  in  a  more  malicious  frame  of  mind  than  when 
he  said  to  Hay : 

"Blank  pardons  are  sent  on  to  be  filled  up  at  your  dis 
cretion,  if  you  should  find  a  defect  of  evidence,  and  believe 
that  this  would  supply  it,  avoiding  to  give  them  to  the 
gross  offenders  unless  it  be  visible  that  the  principal  will 
otherwise  escape."* 

This  fear  that  the  "principal"  would  escape  became 
so  intense  that  the  sane  and  benevolent  Jefferson 
was  driven  to  deeds  he  must  have  repented  in  his 
calmer  hours.  When  Bollman  had  been  released 
by  the  court  he  repaired  to  Washington  to  urge  the 
President  to  countenance  the  expedition  which  Burr 

1Wilkinson  to  Jefferson,  February  25,  1807;  Jefferson  MSS. 
'Wilkinson  to  Jefferson,  June  17,  1807;  Jefferson  MSS. 
*Blenncrhassett  Papers,  p.  328. 
'Jefferson  to  Hay,  May  20,  1807 ;  Jefferson  MSS. 


THE  TRIAL  AT  RICHMOND        339 

had  planned  against  Mexico,  arguing  that  the  best 
interests  of  the  country  would  be  served  by  a  war 
with  Spain.  Jefferson  requested  Bollman  to  put  his 
statements  in  writing,  assuring  him  "that  nothing  he 
might  say  or  acknowledge  should  be  made  use  of 
against  himself."  *  According  to  Bollman  the  Presi 
dent  promised  that  the  paper  "should  never  go  out  of 
his  hands."  2  Notwithstanding  this  pledge,  the  docu 
ment  was  sent  to  Hay.  "Even  go  so  far  as  ask  him," 
read  the  accompanying  note  of  instructions,3  "if  he  had 
not  said  such  and  such  to  Madison  and  Jefferson." 
Finally,  if  Bollman,  for  whom  a  pardon  had  been 
enclosed,  persisted,  he  was  to  be  shown  the  MS.  for 
the  identification  of  which  several  of  his  letters  were 
inclosed.  He  refused  to  accept  the  pardon  and  appealed 
to  the  grand  jury  to  rescue  him  from  disgrace.4  Jeffer 
son's  object  in  thrusting  a  pardon  upon  Bollman  was 
to  compel  his  testimony,  for  excuse  could  not  then  be 
found  in  the  plea  of  self-incrimination.  But  Jefferson's 
tactics  were  extraordinary;  to  pardon  an  individual 
before  he  has  pleaded  guilty  or  been  convicted  was  cer 
tainly  an  Executive  innovation. 

Burr  never  grasped  the  full  significance  of  his 
trial.  June  26th  he  had  pleaded  not  guilty  to  the  in 
dictment  for  treason,  and  the  court  was  adjourned  until 
August  3d. 

'Madison's  Writings,  ii.,  393. 

2Bollman  to  Editor  of  the  Aurora,  July  16,  1807;  Orleans 
Gazette,  September  i,  1807. 

'Jefferson  to  Hay,  May  20,  1807;  Jefferson  MSS. 

'Letter  to  grand  jury,  June  19,  1807;  Orleans  Gazette,  August 
19,  1807. 


THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 


"The  scenes  which  have  passed/'  he  wrote  at  the  close 
of  July  to  Theodosia,  who  was  on  her  way  to  Richmond,1 
"and  those  about  to  be  transacted  will  exceed  all  reason 
able  credulity,  and  will  hereafter  be  deemed  fables,  unless 
attested  by  very  high  authority.  I  repeat,  what  has  here 
tofore  been  written,  that  I  should  never  invite  any  one, 
much  less  those  so  dear  to  me,  to  witness  my  disgrace.  I 
may  be  immured  in  dungeons,  chained,  murdered  in  legal 
form,  but  I  cannot  be  humiliated  or  disgraced.  If  absent 
you  will  suffer  great  solicitude.  In  my  presence  you  will 
feel  none,  whatever  may  be  the  malice  or  the  power  of 
my  enemies,  and  in  both  they  abound." 

From  a  gloomy  view  of  things  Burr  had  the  faculty 
of  turning  with  a  light-heartedness  that  was  at  once  an 
inspiration  to  his  friends  and  a  defiance  to  his  enemies. 
Writing  from  the  penitentiary  to  his  daughter,  he  said, 
"I  have  a  gre*at  desire  to  receive  you  all  in  this  man 
sion.  -:  .  .  Pray,  therefore,  drive  directly  out  here. 
You  may  get  admission  at  any  time  from  four  in  the 
morning  till  ten  at  night."  When  they  arrived,  a  few 
hours  bSore  the  sitting  of  court,  he  apologized  for 
their  being  introduced  into  his  bed-chamber  —  his  draw 
ing-room,  he  said,  was  then  deranged  by  the  fitting  up 
of  his  ice-house.2 

August  3d  the  trial  of  Aaron  Burr  on  the  charge 
of  treason  began  in  earnest.  The  House  of  Burgesses, 
which  is  still  one  of  the  landmarks  of  Richmond,  was 
filled  to  overflowing  with  sightseers  and  partisans  when 
Burr,  accompanied  by  Alston,  walked  into  court. 
Prominent  and  outspoken  as  were  some  of  Burr's  ad 
herents,  his  cause  was  irrevocably  attainted  in  the 
public  mind.  This  was  forcibly  illustrated  in  the 

'Parton's  Burr,  ii.,  127. 
'Ibid.,  130. 


THE  TRIAL  AT  RICHMOND        341 

matter  of  selecting  a  jury — a  labor  which  consumed 
two  weeks.  Even  then  the  accused  was  obliged  to 
accept  men  like  Parker,  who  admitted  that  they  were 
prejudiced  against  him.  Out  of  the  first  venire  of  forty- 
eight  men,  four  were  chosen ;  out  of  the  second,  none ; 
out  of  the  third,  eight. 

It  was  apparent  from  the  preliminary  skirmishes 
that  the  fight  would  be  made  on  the  interpretation  of 
the  clause  in  the  Constitution  which  declares  that 
"Treason  against  the  United  States  shall  consist  only 
in  levying  war  against  them" ;  and  'That  no  person 
shall  be  convicted  of  treason  unless  on  the  testimony  of 
two  witnesses  to  the  same  overt  act,  or  on  confession  in 
open  court."  So  when  William  Eaton,  the  first  wit 
ness,  took  the  stand,  the  defence  urged  the  inadmis- 
sibility  of  evidence  which  did  not  go  towards  proving 
an  overt  act  of  war.  The  court  held  that  in  order  to 
show  that  war  had  actually  been  levied,  it  was  neces 
sary  to  discover  the  design,  and  to  prove  the  overt  act 
by  two  witnesses.  Eaton  was  therefore  permitted  to 
give  his  testimony,  which  was  expected  to  reveal  the 
projects  entertained  by  Burr. 

"During  the  winter  of  1805-06,"  said  the  hero  of 
Derne,  "(I  cannot  be  positive  as  to  the  distinct  point  of 
time ;  yet  during  that  winter),  at  the  City  of  Washington, 
Aaron  Burr  signified  to  me  that  he  was  organizing  a  mili 
tary  expedition  to  be  moved  against  the  Spanish  provinces 
on  the  southwestern  frontiers  of  the  United  States :  I  un 
derstood  under  the  authority  of  the  general  Government. 
.  .  .  At  several  interviews,  it  appeared  to  be  his  in 
tention  to  convince  me  by  maps  and  other  documents,  of 
the  feasibility  of  penetrating  to  Mexico.  At  length,  from 
certain  indistinct  expressions  and  innuendoes,  I  admitted 


r 


342  THE  ARRON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

a  suspicion,  that  Colonel  Burr  had  other  projects.  .  .  . 
[He]  now  laid  open  his  project  of  revolutionizing  the 
territory  west  of  the  Alleghany  ;  establishing  an  independ 
ent  empire  there ;  New  Orleans  to  be  the  capital,  and  he 
himself  to  be  the  chief;  organizing  a  military  force  on 
the  waters  of  the  Mississippi,  and  carrying  conquest  to 
Mexico." 

Besides  these  extensive  plans  the  witness  deposed 
that  Burr  had  proposed  to  him  the  revolutionizing  of 
the  Central  Government,  after  the  fashion  of  Dayton's 
story  to  Yrujo.  That  Eaton  had  been  three  years 
pressing  on  Congress  a  somewhat  doubtful  claim  for 
money  expended  in  the  War  with  Tripoli  may  not 
have  turned  a  phrase  in  his  deposition ;  but  it  is  signifi 
cant  that  a  few  weeks  after  its  appearance  $10,000  were 
placed  to  his  credit.  Congress  had  been  a  long  time 
in  discovering  that  the  Nation  was  really  indebted  to 
the  officer  who  had  once  been  convicted  of  peculation 
by  court-martial.  If  the  country  was  slow  in  appre 
ciating  the  sacrifices  of  Eaton  in  the  Barbary  Wars,  it 
was  prompt  in  recognizing  the  value  of  his  services  at 
the  crisis  of  the  Conspiracy.  He  had  the  satisfaction 
of  writing  i1 — 

"I  have  jeopardized  my  life  and  reputation  to  preserve 
the  integrity  of  the  Union:  and  (I  hope  to  be  forgiven), 
to  this  vigilance  and  fidelity,  rather  than  to  the  movements 
on  the  Sabine  or  at  New  Orleans,  our  hero  of  Carter's 
Mountain  owes  his  political  if  not  his  personal  existence ; 
for  it  was  not  until  my  public  exposure  had  alarmed  Gen 
eral  Wilkinson  in  his  camp,  that  he,  though  more  than  two 
years  acquainted  with  the  treasonable  plot,  thought  of 
betraying  his  fellow  traitor,  and  becoming  a  patriot  by 
turning  State's  evidence/' 

'Prentiss's  Life  of  General  Eaton,  p.  405. 


THE  TRIAL  AT  RICHMOND       343 

Between  Eaton  and  Wilkinson  it  would  be  difficult 
indeed  to  decide  upon  whose  brow  the  palm  for  Spartan 
heroism  should  rest  —  both  claimed  to  have  saved  the 
country.  Through  the  notoriety  won  in  the  case  Eaton 
was  elected  to  Congress,  but  his  biographer  admits  that 
"the  acquittal  of  Burr  ...  in  some  measure 
soured  his  mind,  and  the  hope  of  promotion  in  the 
army,  by  gratifying  the  ruling  administration,  occa 
sioned  at  times  a  considerable  swerving  from  his  con 
victions."1 

Commodore  Truxton  was  the  second  witness  for 
the  Government.  In  a  letter  to  Alston  he  had  stated  in 
brief  what  he  knew  of  Burr's  plans,  and  that  he  simply 
repeated  :2  — 

"The  intention  of  Mr.  Burr,  as  has  been  stated,  to 
sever  the  Union  (a  most  diabolical  project),  was  first 
suggested  to  me  by  Western  newspapers.  .  .  .  But  it 
is  true  Mr.  Burr  did  tell  me  that  in  case  of  war  between 
the  United  States  and  Spain,  which  he  considered  in 
evitable,  he  intended  to  attack  Vera  Cruz  and  Mexico, 
give  liberty  to  an  enslaved  world,  and  establish  an  inde 
pendent  Government  in  Mexico;  and  invited  me  to  take 
command  of  the  expedition  by  sea." 

He  added  at  the  trial  that  Burr  had  expressly  stated 
that  his  designs  on  Mexico  were  based  on  the  contin 
gency  of  war  with  Spain. 

"I  told  him  there  would  be  no  war.  He  was  sanguine 
there  would  be  war.  He  said,  however,  that  if  he  was 
disappointed  as  to  the  event  of  war,  he  was  about  to  com- 


1807. 


.,  411. 
'Truxton  to  Alston,  February  4,  1807;  Orleans  Gazette,  June  5, 


344  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

plete  a  contract  for  a  large  quantity  of  land  on  the 
Washita;  that  he  intended  to  invite  his  friends  to  settle 
it ;  that  in  one  year  he  would  have  a  thousand  families  of 
respectable  and  fashionable  people,  and  some  of  them  of 
j  considerable  property :  that  it  was  a  fine  country,  and  that 
they  would  have  a  charming  society,  and  in  two  years  he 
would  have  double  the  number  of  settlers ;  and  being  on 
the  frontier,  he  would  be  ready  to  move  whenever  a  war 
took  place." 

The  Morgans  were  next  called ;  their  testimony  was 
in  line  with  their  letters  to  the  President,  which  have 
been  noted.1  The  climax  of  their  evidence  was  the  con 
fession  that  more  was  to  be  inferred  from  the  manner 
of  Burr's  speech  than  from  what  he  actually  said.  Peter 
Taylor,  Blennerhassett's  gardener,  also  bore  witness  to 
the  design.  He  said  that  the  conspirators  were  going 
to  take  Mexico ;  that  Burr  was  to  be  king  and  was  to  be 
succeeded  at  his  death  by  his  daughter;  and  that  two 
thousand  priests  with  their  friends  were  ready  to  join 
an  insurrection. 

"I  then  asked  [Blennerhassett],"  said  Taylor,  "what 
was  to  become  of  the  men  who  were  going  to  settle  the 
lands  he  talked  about?  Were  they  to  stop  at  the  Red 
River,  or  to  go  on  ?  He  said,  'O  by  God,  I  tell  you,  Peter, 
every  man  that  will  not  conform  to  order  and  discipline, 
I  will  stab ;  you'll  see  how  I'll  fix  them' ;  that  when  he  got 
them  far  enough  down  the  river,  if  they  did  not  conform 
to  order  and  discipline,  he  swore  by  God  he'd  stab  them." 

So  much  for  the  design.  The  prosecution  now  took 
up  its  witnesses  to  prove  that  an  act  of  war  had  been 
committed.  Dudley  Woodbriclge  testified  that  he  was 
on  the  island  at  the  time  specified  in  the  indictment, 

'See  p.  78. 


THE  TRIAL  AT  RICHMOND       345 

but  that  he  saw  no  unlawful  assemblage  of  men.  He 
added  that  Blennerhassett  had  told  him  that  the  expedi 
tion  was  intended  for  Mexico,  and  had  solicited  him  to 
join.  Jacob  Allbright,  an  ignorant  laborer,  with  Peter 
Taylor,  became  in  the  eyes  of  the  defense,  "a  brace 
of  swearers  from  Wood  County."  The  testimony  of 
both  was  open  to  serious  question,  while  that  of  All- 
bright  was  discredited  on  cross-examination.  He  swore 
one  thing  on  the  stand  and  had  made  affidavit  to  some 
thing  substantially  different,  narrating  that  on  the 
night  of  the  flight, 

"a  man  by  the  name  of  Tupper  laid  his  hands  upon  Blen 
nerhassett,  and  said,  'Your  body  is  in  my  hands,  in  the 
name  of  the  Commonwealth/  Some  such  words  as  that 
he  mentioned.  When  Tupper  made  that  motion,  there 
were  seven  or  eight  muskets  leveled  at  him.  Tupper 
looked  about  him  and  said,  'Gentlemen,  I  hope  you  will 
not  do  the  like.'  One  of  the  gentlemen  nearest,  about 
two  yards  off,  said,  Td  as  lieve  as  not.'  Tupper  then 
changed  his  speech,  and  said  he  wished  him  to  escape  safe 
down  the  river,  and  wished  him  luck."1 

This  was  the  very  act  of  levying  war  upon  which 
the  Government  rested  its  case.  Unfortunately,  how 
ever,  there  was  none  other  to  confirm  Allbright's  vision ; 
indeed,  according  to  Blennerhassett,  Tupper  was  present 
in  Richmond  and  ready  to  pronounce  the  story  unquali 
fiedly  false.  Wickham  taunted  the  prosecution  with 
fearing  to  examine  Tupper,  whom  they  had  summoned. 
"Their  not  doing  it,"  he  said,  "proves  that  they 
thought  he  would  contradict  Allbright."2  Taylor 

'Burr's  Trial,  i.,  509. 
2Burr's  Trial,  i.,  594. 


icy  \ 


346  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

whose  veracity  would  have  been  assailed  by  Dr.  Bennett 
and  others — Love,  Poole,  Belknap  and  Dana  were  also 
interrogated  with  a  view  to  showing  that  war  had  been 
levied;  but  Allbright  could  not  be  reenforced.  Thus 
August  2Oth,  when  Hay  at  length  admitted  that  he  had 
produced  all  the  witnesses  at  his  command  to  establish 
the  fact  of  war,  and  attempted  to  introduce  collateral 
testimony.  Burr's  counsel  moved  the  arrestation  of  the 
evidence  on  the  ground  that  no  overt  act,  constituting 
treason  under  the  Constitution,  had  been  proven.  This 
manoeuvre  had  been  threatened  for  several  days;  and 
the  State  denounced  it  as  a  deliberate  attempt  to  throttle 
the  investigation.  But  the  motion  was  entertained. 

Through  a  period  of  ten  days  the  most  remarkable 
legal  encounter  known  in  our  history  was  waged,  both 
sides  contesting  every  inch  of  the  ground ;  for  the  deci 
sion  was  vital — the  prevailing  of  the  motion  meant  the 
end  of  the  trial  for  treason. 

It  was  contended  by  the  defense,  first,  that  no  overt 
act  of  war,  as  charged  in  the  indictment,  had  been 
established.  It  was  therefore  the  duty  of  the  court  to 
exclude  further  testimony  concerning  acts  and  deeds 
committed,  or  alleged  to  have  been  committed,  beyond 
its  jurisdiction.  The  second  contention  was  "that  no 
person  can  be  convicted  of  treason  in  levying  war,  who 
was  not  personally  present  at  the  commission  of  the  act, 
which  is  charged  in  the  indictment  as  constituting  the 
offense."  The  Constitution  says  plainly  that  "no 
person  shall  be  convicted,  unless  on  the  testimony  of 
two  witnesses  to  the  same  overt  act."  It  was  admitted 
that  Burr  was  in  Kentucky  at  the  time  when  it  was 


THE  TRIAL  AT  RICHMOND        347 

charged  in  the  return  of  the  grand  jury  that  he  had 
wrought  treason  on  Blennerhassett's  island  "with  divers 
persons  unknown."  Mr.  Randolph  therefore  queried, 
"Whether,  under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
a  person  who,  it  is  admitted  would  be  an  accessory  in 
felony,  can  be  considered  as  a  principal  in  treason  in 
levying  war."  He  maintained  that  Burr's  arraignment 
must  follow  the  conviction  of  a  principal,  since  he  was 
himself  not  present  when  the  alleged  act  constituting 
treason  was  committed. 

Hay,  with  his  associates,  angered  at  the  presump 
tion  of  the  defense,  feebly  assailed  these  positions. 
According  to  the  District- Attorney,  "An  assemblage  of 
men  convened  for  the  purpose  of  effecting  by  force  a 
treasonable  object,  and  which  force  is  meant  to  be 
employed  before  their  dispersion,  is  an  overt  act  of 
levying  war  against  the  United  States."  Although 
absent,  it  was  held  that  Burr  was  present  on  the  island 
at  the  specified  time,  in  a  legal  sense;  that  he  had  pro 
cured  and  inspired  the  gathering,  and  that  he  was  there 
fore,  in  reason,  the  principal.  Consequently  it  would  be  a 
prostitution  of  the  law  to  interfere  with  the  course  of 
the  evidence,  the  "most  important"  being  held  in  re 
serve.  In  the  minds  of  the  prosecution  it  would  have 
been  difficult  to  say  whether  the  judge  was  more  cul 
pable  for  entertaining  the  motion,  or  the  defense  for 
pressing  it. 

Thus  were  the  two  sides  arrayed ;  each  busy  with 
massing  its  arguments,  which  were  directed  chiefly  to 
the  analysis  of  legal  principles,  while  John  Marshall, 
whose  marvelous  sanity  was  never  clouded,  held  the 


348  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

scales  of  justice.  Wickham  opened  the  debate  and 
won  renown  in  a  discussion  of  the  nature  of  treason. 
Luther  Martin,  whom  Blennerhassett  termed  the  whole 
rear  guard  of  Burr's  forensic  army,  spoke  fourteen 
hours,  presenting  a  masterly  argument,  distinguished 
alike  for  its  familiarity  with  English  precedent  and  for 
its  erudite  knowledge  of  the  law  concerning  treason. 
Such  ardor  and  ability  have  rarely  been  combined;  and 
Martin's  interest  in  Burr's  case  was  heightened  because 
of  the  fascination  cast  over  him  by  the  beautiful  Theo- 
dosia,  to  whom  he  referred  touchingly  in  the  opening 
of  his  great  speech.  McRae  appeared  to  better  advan 
tage  than  hitherto,  while  Wirt  rose  to  fame  more  endur 
ing  than  he  could  have  dreamed  of  in  an  oratorical 
effort  depicting  the  characters  of  Burr  and  Blennerhas 
sett  :  "Who  Aaron  Burr  is  we  have  seen  in  part  already. 
.  .  .  Who  is  Blennerhassett?  A  native  of  Ireland, 
a  man  of  letters,  who  fled  from  the  storms  of  his  own 
country  to  find  quiet  in  ours."  Mr.  Botts  and  Mr.  Ran 
dolph  both  came  in  for  a  share  of  triumph.  The  Dis 
trict-Attorney  argued  well  and  skillfully,  but,  in  the 
midst  of  the  debate,  purposely  or  otherwise,  he  assumed 
a  threatening  attitude  toward  the  court,  insinuating 
that  for  the  rendering  of  an  opinion  substantially 
similar  to  the  one  desired  by  the  defense — that  is,  "to 
wrest  the  decision  from  the  jury,  and  prejudge  the  case 
before  hearing  all  the  evidence  in  it" — Justice  Chase 
had  been  impeached.  Charles  Lee,  who  followed,  at 
once  retaliated : 

"It  was  very  kind  in  the  gentleman  to  remind  the  court 
of  the  danger  of  a  decision  of  the  motion  in  favor  of  the 


THE  TRIAL  AT  RICHMOND       349 

prisoner:  a  decision  like  that,  which  had  already  pro 
duced  the  impeachment » of  another  judge.  ...  It 
certainly  would  not  be  unfair  to  infer,  that  it  was  intended 
to  show  the  same  cause  might  again  produce  the  same 
effect."1 

Hay  protested  that  he  had  spoken  inadvertently, 
and  Marshall  stated  that  he  had  not  taken  it  as  a  per 
sonal  allusion ;  but  the  fact  remains  that  the  matter  was 
not  therewith  ended.  That  impeachment  was  a  house 
hold  word  with  Jefferson,  that  he  meditated  another 
trial  at  arms  with  the  Federal  judiciary  was  known  to 
Marshall,  who  rode  into  the  lists  with  a  quiet  dignity 
becoming  the  invincible  knight.  In  the  course  of  his 
opinion,  which  was  pronounced  August  3ist,  ran  the 
lines : 

"Much  has  been  said  in  the  course  of  the  argument  on 
points  on  which  the  Court  feels  no  inclination  to  comment 
particularly,  but  which  may  perhaps  not  improperly  re 
ceive  some  notice.  That  this  Court  dares  not  usurp  power 
is  most  true;  that  this  Court  dares  not  shrink  from  its 
duty  is  not  less  true.  No  man  is  desirous  of  placing  him 
self  in  a  disagreeable  situation ;  no  man  is  desirous  of  be 
coming  the  peculiar  subject  of  calumny;  no  man,  might 
he  let  the  bitter  cup  pass  from  him  without  self-reproach,, 
would  drain  it  to  the  bottom ;  but  if  he  has  no  choice  in 
the  case, — if  there  is  no  alternative  presented  to  him  but 
a  dereliction  of  duty  or  the  opprobrium  of  those  who  are! 
denominated  the  world, — he  merits  the  contempt  as  wellj 
as  the  indignation  of  his  country  who  can  hesitate  which 
to  embrace." 

After  this  simple  defiance,  Marshall  in  this,  his 
longest  opinion,  which  required  three  hours  for  the 
reading,  reviewed  the  case  in  all  its  phases,  examining 

Burr's  Trial,  ii.,  441. 


u 


350  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

elaborately  the  chief  arguments  of  the  counsel,  with 
many  citations  from  authorities.  The  paragraph  which 
struck  the  earth  from  under  the  feet  of  the  prosecution 
read  as  follows  :* — 

"The  present  indictment  charges  the  prisoner  with 
levying  war  against  the  United  States,  and  alleges  an 
overt  act  of  levying  war.  That  overt  act  must  be  proved, 
according  to  the  mandates  of  the  Constitution  and  of  the 
act  of  Congress,  by  two  witnesses.  It  is  not  proved  by  a 
single  witness.  .  .  .  The  conclusion,  that  in  this  state 
of  things  no  testimony  can  be  admissible,  is  so  inevitable 
that  the  counsel  for  the  United  States  could  not  resist  it. 
j  I  do  not  understand  them  to  deny  that,  if  the  overt  act 
|  be  not  proved  by  two  witnesses  so  as  to  be  submitted  to 
the  jury,  all  other  testimony  must  be  irrelevant;  because 
no  other  testimony  can  prove  the  act.  .  .  .  No  testi 
mony  relative  to  the  conduct  or  declarations  of  the 
prisoner  elsewhere  and  subsequent  to  the  transaction  on 
Blennerhassett's  island  can  be  admitted ;  because  such 
testimony,  being  in  its  nature  merely  corroborative  and 
incompetent  to  prove  the  overt  act  in  itself,  is  irrelevant 
until  there  be  proof  of  the  overt  act  by  two  witnesses." 

To  that  argument  there  was  no  rejoinder.  The 
next  day,  September  i  st,  the  case  was  abandoned  by  the 
Government  and  the  jury  returned  a  verdict  of  "Not 
guilty."  Burr  had  at  last  escaped ;  but  not,  as  we  often 
find  it  stated,  on  a  technicality.  McMaster  and  others 
have  said  that  he  owed  his  deliverance  to  absence  from 
Blennerhassett's  island  at  the  time  the  overt  act  was 
committed.  The  statement  is  fundamentally  erroneous. 
Primarily  considered.  Burr  was  acquitted  because  no 
overt  act  of  levying  war  could  be  shown  to  have  taken 
place.  The  overt  act  once  established,  Burr  could  have 

"Burr's  Trial,  ii.,  441. 


THE  TRIAL  AT  RICHMOND       351 

been  tried  only  after  the  conviction  of  Blennerhassett 
or  of  some  one  of  those  implicated  in  the  act  of  war  as 
specified  in  the  indictment.  On  this  point  the  court 
held: 

"The  legal  guilt  of  the  person  who  planned  the  assem 
blage  on  Blennerhassett's  island  depends  not  simply  on 
the  criminality  of  the  previous  conspiracy,  but  on  the 
criminality  of  that  assemblage.  If  those  who  perpetrated 
the  fact  be  not  traitors,  he  who  advised  the  fact  cannot  be 
a  traitor.  .  .  .  The  whole  reason  of  the  law  then 
relative  to  the  principal  and  accessory,  so  far  as  respects 
the  order  of  trial,  seems  to  apply  in  full  force  to  a  case  of 
treason  committed  by  one  body  of  men  in  conspiracy  with 
others  who  are  absent." 

Burr  had  therefore  effected  a  double  escape — both 
positions  of  the  defense  had  been  upheld.  Henceforth 
for  America,  treason  against  the  State  must  consist  of 
acts ;  the  spirit  of  the  Constitution  opposed  constructive 
treason;  the  spirit  of  the  mass  of  Americans  whose 
aims  and  struggles  had  made  a  Constitution  pos 
sible  was  irrevocably  against  the  Old  World  system 
which  brought  one's  head  so  easily  to  the  block.  That 
Jefferson  should  have  gone  into  a  violent  passion  at 
Marshall's  dictum  must  have  astonished  those  who 
claimed  to  adhere  to  Republican  principles,  who  still 
recalled  the  terrors  of  the  Alien  and  Sedition  laws  and 
the  tyrannies  of  the  party  responsible  for  them.  That 
it  was  a  decision  in  favor  of  the  individual  as  against 
government  none  could  question.  One  thing  was 
obvious ;  the  political  axiom  of  the  President,  that  the 
world  was  too  much  governed,  had  faded  from  his 
calendar;  yet  Jefferson,  philosopher  and  statesman, 


352  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

seems  never  to  have  realized  the  change,  nor  that  the 
business  of  politics  was  one  thing,  and  speculation  on 
politics  quite  another. 

The  news  of  the  acquittal  of  Burr  sounded  dismal 
enough  in  the  ears  of  two  men :  Jefferson,  who  had 
superintended  the  gathering  of  the  evidence,  who  had 
in  part  directed  the  prosecution,  and  whose  reputation 
for  sound  judgment  and  upright  principles,  he  seemed 
to  think,  depended  on  a  conviction,  since  he  had  un 
qualifiedly  assumed  the  guilt  of  Burr — and  Wilkin 
son,  who  had  pursued  the  conspirators  with  a  venom 
born  of  his  own  corruption.  It  is  not  surprising,  there 
fore,  that  they  condoled  with  one  another  over  the 
result. 

"I  know  little  of  law  and  less  of  judiciary  proceed 
ings,"  the  General  said  to  his  protector,1  "but  common 
sense  suggests  that  he  has  been  hastily  acquitted  under 
certain  refinements  and  subtilties  of  sentiment  opposed  to 
the  claims  of  justice  and  apparently  calculated  to  extin 
guish  enquiry,  to  suppress  truth,  to  prostitute  the  trial  by 
jury,  to  render  the  court  a  dead  letter,  and  to  conceal  the 
crimes  of  a  traitor." 

A  week  later  the  President  answered,  in  a  passion 
which  had  almost  consumed  itself  :2 — 

"The  scenes  which  have  been  acted  at  Richmond  are 
such  as  have  never  before  been  exhibited  in  any  country, 
where  all  regard  to  public  character  has  not  yet  been 
thrown  off.  They  are  equivalent  to  a  proclamation  of  im 
punity  to  every  traitorous  combination  which  may  be 
formed  to  destroy  the  Union." 

Wilkinson  to  Jefferson,  September  13,  1807;  Jefferson  MSS. 
'Jefferson  to  Wilkinson,  September  20,  1807 ;  Jefferson  MSS. 


THE  TRIAL  AT  RICHMOND       353 

The  district-attorney  also  reported  the  news  of  the 
acquittal  to  headquarters,  taking  care  to  criticise  Mar 
shall,  relating  also  that  Wirt,  who  had  all  along  "ad 
vocated  the  integrity  of  the  Chief- Justice,"  now  aban 
doned  him.  September  4th,  in  a  passionate  outburst, 
Jefferson  replied  i1— 

"The  event  has  been  what  was  evidently  intended  from 
the  beginning  of  the  trial,  that  is  to  say,  not  only  to  clear 
Burr,  but  to  prevent  the  evidence  from  ever  going  before 
the  world.  But  this  latter  case  must  not  take  place.  It 
is  now,  therefore,  more  than  ever  indispensable  that  not  a 
single  witness  be  paid  or  permitted  to  depart  until  his 
testimony  has  been  committed  to  writing.  .  .  .  These 
whole  proceedings  will  be  laid  before  Congress  that  they 
may  decide,  whether  the  defect  has  been  in  the  evidence 
of  guilt,  or  in  the  law,  or  in  the  application  of  the  law. 
.  .  .  This  criminal  is  preserved  to  become  the  rallying 
point  of  all  the  disaffected  and  worthless  of  the  United 
States,  and  to  be  the  point  on  which  all  the  intrigues  and 
the  conspiracies  which  foreign  Governments  may  wish  to 
disturb  us  with  are  to  turn.  If  he  is  convicted  of  the  mis 
demeanor,  the  judge  must  in  decency  give  us  respite  by 
some  short  confinement  of  him ;  but  we  must  expect  it  to 
be  very  short." 

It  was  now  resolved  that  Congress  should  investi 
gate  the  affair.  If  impeachment  was  found  to  be  the 
remedy,  that  should  be  invoked;  if  a  constitutional 
amendment  concerning  the  judiciary  were  deemed 
expedient,  then  that  should  be  proposed.  Already 
Jefferson  had  said  in  a  letter  to  Rodney,  "It  is  im 
possible  Congress  should  not  take  up  that  subject." 
And  October  ist  he  asked  of  Hay  that  the  evidence  be 
speedily  sent  in,  so  that  it  might  be  prepared  against 
"Jefferson  to  Hay,  September  4,  1807;  Jefferson  MSS. 


354  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

the  sitting  of  that  body.1  The  matter  was  sent  in;  but 
the  meditated  struggle  was  somewhere  forestalled ;  and 
it  was  well  that  it  was  so,  for  Wilkinson,  the  main 
reliance  of  the  Government,  was  to  be  deserted  even  by 
Hay,  who,  in  a  letter  to  the  President  at  the  close  of 
the  trial,  said  frankly  :2 — 

"The  declaration  which  I  made  in  court  in  his  [Wilkin 
son's]  favor  some  time  ago  was  precipitate;  and  though 
I  have  not  retracted  it,  everybody  sees  that  I  have  not 
attempted  the  task  which  I  in  fact  promised  to  perform. 
'My  confidence  in  him  is  shaken,  if  not  destroyed.    I  am 

•  sorry  for  it,  on  his  own  account,  on  the  public  account, 
;  and  because  you  have  expressed  opinions  in  his  favor ;  but 

you  did  not  know  then  what  you  will  soon  know,  and  what 
I  did  not  learn  until  after — long  after — my  declaration 
above  mentioned." 

A  week  after  the  verdict  in  the  treason  case,  while 
it  was  still  uncertain  what  the  next  move  should  be,  the 
President  sent  Hay  the  following  advice  :3 — 

"I  am  happy  in  having  the  benefit  of  Mr.  Madison's 
counsel  on  this  occasion.  He  happens  to  be  now  with 
me.  We  are  both  strongly  of  opinion  that  the  prosecution 
against  Burr  for  misdemeanor  should  proceed  at  Rich 
mond.  If  debated,  it  will  heap  coals  of  fire  on  the  head 

•  of  the  judge ;  if  convicted,  it  will  give  time  to  see  whether 
a  prosecution  for  treason  against  him  can  be  instituted 
in  any  and  what  other  court.     But  we  are  inclined  to 
think  it  may  be  best  to  send  Blennerhassett  and  Smith 
(Israel)   to  Kentucky  to  be  tried  both  for  treason  and 
misdemeanor.    The  trial  of  Dayton  for  misdemeanor  may 
as  well  go  on  at  Richmond." 

"Jefferson  to  Hay,  October  I,  1807;  Jefferson  MSS. 
*Hay  to  Jefferson,  October  15,  1807;  Jefferson  MSS. 
•Jefferson  to  Hay,  September  7,  1807  Jefferson  MSS. 


THE  TRIAL  AT  RICHMOND        355 

Already  the  skirmishing  had  begun.  For  a  few 
days  Hay  thought  of  sending  the  prisoner  to  Kentucky 
for  trial  on  the  treason  charge.  After  a  week's  debate — 
during  which  time  the  matter  of  obtaining  Wilkinson's 
letters  of  October  2ist  and  November  i2th  from  the 
President  was  revived  with  mutual  recriminations — 
the  court  decided  that  the  indictment  for  misdemeanor 
must  be  disposed  of  before  the  question  of  Burr's  com 
mitment  for  trial  elsewhere  could  be  entertained. 

The  indictment  for  misdemeanor  had  been  framed 
under  the  fifth  section  of  the  Act  of  Congress  of  June 
'5,  1794,  which  provided  that  if  any  person  shall,  within 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States,  begin  or  set  on 
foot  a  military  expedition  against  the  territory  of  any 
foreign  power  with  whom  the  United  States  are  at 
peace,  he  shall  be  guilty  of  a  high  misdemeanor.  Burr 
was  charged  with  having  begun  such  an  enterprise 
against  the  dominions  of  the  King  of  Spain,  and  here, 
indeed,  it  seemed  as  if  he  must  be  convicted.  In  order 
to  escape  the  snare  of  treason  it  was  almost  necessary! 
to  entangle  himself  in  the  meshes  of  a  high  mis 
demeanor.  Blennerhassett  feared,  and  with  reason, 
that  the  prosecution  would  put  Burr  upon  a  defense  on 
the  treason  bill  which  would  "nearly  amount  to  a  con 
fession  of  the  misdemeanor." 

"I  think  this  has  actually  happened,"  he  wrote  August 
3Oth  in  his  diary.1  "Martin  thought  that  because  Burr 
alleges  he  expected  war  between  Spain  and  the  United 
States,  his  expedition  was  lawful.  But  may  not  a  jury 
think  Burr  did  not  expect  the  war,  and  find  their  verdict 
then  on  the  confession?" 

^Blennerhassett  Papers,  p.  379. 


356  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

It  is  extremely  unfortunate  that  the  trial  for  treason 
was  unseasonably  cut  short.     That  it  would  have  been 
«^far  better  for  the  sake  of  truth  and  history  had  it  con- 
/tinued  and  Burr  been  compelled  to  examine  his  wit- 
"^  nesses  cannot  be  denied.  The  conspirators,  however,  had 
not  only  the  indictment  for  treason  to  fear,  but  that  of 
misdemeanor  as  well;  they  were,  therefore,  to  borrow 
General  Wilkinson's  expression,   between   Scylla  and 
Charybdis,  and  rejoiced  to  be  in  a  position  to  defeat 
•the  indictments,  having  no  qualms  of  conscience  and 
taking  no  heed  what  interpretation  the  future  might 
iput  on  their  conduct.     It  would  have  been  a  spectacle' 
of  unusual  interest,  a  dramatic  climax,  to  have  set  Jack 
son  against  Wilkinson ;  Adair  against  Eaton ;  Harrison, 
Woodbridge,  Truxton,  and  Alston  against  the  Mor 
gans,  Peter  Taylor,  and  Allbright. 

It  was  not  until  September  9,  1807,  that  the  jury  in 
the  misdemeanor  case  was  sworn  and  the  examination 
of  witnesses  begun.  The  prosecution  submitted  as  evi 
dence  certain  declarations  of  Blennerhassett  which  tend 
ed  to  implicate  the  defendant;  also  acts  of  the  nature 
laid  in  the  indictment  committed  by  Burr  in  Ohio  and 
Kentucky,  but  not  in  Wood  County,  Virginia.  Third 
parties  who  had  no  part  or  parcel  in  the  undertaking 
told  of  the  schemes  of  the  sometime  Vice-President 
of  the  United  States.  The  specific  counts  in  the  indict 
ment — seven  in  number — were  overlooked  in  the  en 
deavor  to  exploit  to  an  interested  public  more  of 
the  details  of  the  conspiracy,  and  to  "heap  coals  of  fire 
on  the  head  of  the  judge."  The  defense  finally  ob 
jected  to  the  introduction  of  such  quantities  of  irrele- 


THE  TRIAL  AT  RICHMOND       357 

vant  matter,  and  the  court  sustained  the  objection; 
ruling,  however : 

"That  any  legal  testimony  which  shows  the  expedition 
to  be  military,  or  to  have  been  designed  against  the  do 
minions  of  Spain,  may  be  received. 

"That  any  testimony  showing  that  the  accused  per 
formed  within  the  district  any  one  of  the  acts  charged 
in  the  indictment  may  be  received." 

This  opinion  was  delivered  September  I4th,  and  the 
ensuing  day  the  prosecution,  having  no  testimony  of 
the  character  described,  gave  up  the  case,  and  a  verdict 
of  "Not  guilty"  was  rendered.  Wilkinson  immedi- 
alely  sent  a  letter  to  the  President  bewailing  the  result, 
while,  perhaps  the  same  hour,  Hay  was  renouncing  his 
faith  in  the  General. 

.  "The  disgraceful  and  dishonorable  scenes,"  said  Wil 
kinson  dejectedly,  though  unabashed  at  the  sinister  part 
he  had  played  and  continued  to  play,1  "which  have  been 
passing  in  review  here  are  drawing  to  a  close.  Burr  has 
just  been  acquitted  on  the  trial  for  misdemeanor,  and  now 
a  motion  will  be  made  for  his  transmittal  for  trial  to  Ken 
tucky,  which  will  go  off  the  same  way.  The  chief  [Mar 
shall]  has  stepped  in  too  deep  to  retreat,  and  indeed,  his 
enterprise  and  hardihood  almost  justify  the  suspicion  that 
he  has  been  a  party  to  the  conspiracy." 

Then  the  General  spoke  of  reforming  the  Federal 
courts.  Out  of  the  purity  of  his  heart  he  thought  it 
would  be  beneficial,  if  only  for  the  purpose  of  ridding 
the  nation  of  a  "corrupt  judge." 

Jefferson,  too,  was  seized  with  despair.  "The 
scenes,"  he  wrote  William  Thomson,2  "which  have 

1BIennerhassett  Papers,  p.  414. 

'Jefferson  to  William  Thomson,  September  26,  1807;  Jeffer 
son  MSS. 


358  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

been  acting  at  Richmond  are  sufficient  to  fill  us  with 
alarm.  We  supposed  we  possessed  fixed  laws  to  guard 
us  equally  against  treason  and  oppression ;  but  it  now 
appears  we  have  no  law  but  the  will  of  the  judge." 

Falling  in  with  the  train  of  accusation,  the  Attor 
ney-General  declared  to  the  President  that  the  prosecu 
tion  had  done  well,  but  that  it  could  not  hope  to 
struggle  against  wind  and  tide.  Therefore,  he  sug 
gested  that  Burr  should  be  tried  in  Kentucky  before  a 
judge  who  had  been  appointed  since  the  expulsion  of 
•'  the  adventurers;  in  other  words,  before  a  court  which 
would  respond  to  Executive  pressure.  On  the  other 
hand,  alluding  to  the  people  of  Kentucky,  Rodney 
declared  that  "they  had  acted  without  any  regard  to 
decency,"  which  was  an  ungrateful  insult  as  well  as  a 
frank  admission  that  Burr  was  beyond  pursuit.1 

Now,  in  effect,  the  charges  against  the  conspirators 
were  practically  cancelled.     Failing  to  convict  Burr, 
nolle  prosequi  was  entered  against  the  names  of  his 
indicted  associates.    But  Jefferson  was  not  disposed  to 
let  the  accused  go  in  peace — he  still  thought  that  his 
own  reputation  had  to  be  vindicated  before  Congress 
/and  the  country.    For  even  to  laymen  it  might  appear 
/  that  he  had  pursued  an  ignis  fatnus  at  great  cost  to  the 
j  Government ;  that  he  had  been  over-credulous  in  believ 
ing  and  sustaining  Wilkinson;  or  that  his  hatred  of 
I  Burr  had  inspired  a  prosecution  as  relentless  as  it  had 
•  been  unjust.    If  there  was  yet  evidence  which  had  not 
been  exploited,  no  witness  should  be  allowed  to  depart 
until  he  had  contributed  his  quota  to  the  volume  which 

'Rodney  to  Jefferson,  October  i,  1807;  Jefferson  MSS. 


THE  TRIAL  AT  RICHMOND       359 

was  to  be  laid  before  Congress,  and  thenceforward 
preserved  in  the  Annals  of  that  body.  But  how  could 
this  be  done  under  legal  sanction? 

A  clever  manoeuvre  by  Hay  gave  the  solution.  By 
moving  to  send  Burr  first  to  Mississippi  Territory  for 
trial  and  then  to  Ohio,  what  evidence  the  Government 
possessed  would  be  disclosed.  All  this  was  intended 
to  contribute  toward  the  overthrow  of  Marshall  and  his 
fellow  judges.  The  President  hoped,  as  has  been  noted, 
that  the  agitation  would  compel  an  amendment  to  the 
Constitution  which  would  place  the  Federal  Judiciary 
on  the  same  basis  with  the  other  coordinate  depart 
ments  of  government.  If  he  failed  in  this,  it  was  not 
for  want  of  a  mass  of  testimony  concerning  the  nature 
of  the  conspiracy. 

It  is  impossible  here  to  indicate  even  the  chief  steps 
in  the  further  proceedings  against  the  associates.  The 
published  testimony  would  fill  a  volume  in  itself.  It 
is  sufficient  to  say  that  the  prosecution  was  now  per 
mitted  to  produce  their  witnesses  as  they  chose,  nor  was 
there  any  limit  to  the  quality  or  quantity  of  their  testi 
mony.  It  was  only  at  this  stage  that  General  Wilkin 
son  succeeded  in  rendering  his  complete  version  of  the 
plot — a  labor  of  love  which  was  soon  to  make  its  ap 
pearance  in  his  Aaron  Burr  Conspiracy  Exposed. 

At  length  the  last  witness  for  the  prosecution  was 
dismissed,  and  October  2Oth  Chief- Justice  Marshall  de 
livered  an  opinion  on  the  motion  for  commitment, 
which  eliminated  once  more  the  charge  of  treason. 

"On  comparing  the  testimony  adduced  by  the  Unitcdl   /   t~ 
States  with  itself,"  ran  this  last  of  a  series  of  extraordW 


360  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

nary  decisions,  "this  is  observable.  That  which  relates 
to  treason  indicates  the  general  design,  while  that  which 
relates  to  the  misdemeanor  points  to  the  particular  expe 
dition  which  was  actually  commenced.  Weighing  the 
whole  of  this  testimony,  it  appears  to  me  to  predominate 
in  favor  of  the  opinion  that  the  enterprise  was  really 
designed  against  Mexico.  .  .  .  It  is  also  a  circum 
stance  of  considerable  weight  with  me  that  the  proof  ex 
hibited  by  the  United  States  to  establish  a  general  design 
to  dismember  the  Union,  applies  only  to  Colonel  Burr  and 
Mr.  Blennerhassett.  It  is  not  proved  to  have  been  ever 
communicated  even  to  Tyler  and  Floyd.  There  is  not  only 
a  failure  to  prove  that  such  a  design  was  communicated  to 
or  undertaken  by  the  men  who  were  assembled  at  the 
mouth  of  Cumberland,  but  the  contrary  is  in  full  evidence. 
The  United  States  have  adduced  several  witnesses  belong 
ing  to  that  assemblage  who  concur  in  declaring  that  they 
heard  nothing,  that  they  suspected  nothing,  hostile  to  the 
United  States.  This  testimony  cannot  be  disregarded,  for 
it  is  uncontradicted,  and  is  offered  by  the  prosecution. 
How  can  this  assemblage  be  said  to  have  levied  war 
against  the  United  States  ?  .  .  .  These  men  were  not 
ready  nor  willing  to  strike,  nor  could  their  chief  be  ready 
to  strike  without  them.  .  .  .  Believing,  then,  the 
weight  of  testimony  to  be  in  favor  of  the  opinion  that  the 
real  and  direct  object  of  the  expedition  was  Mexico, 
.  .  .  it  would,  in  my  judgment,  be  improper  in  me  to 
commit  the  accused  on  the  charge  of  treason.  ...  I 
shall  commit  Aaron  Burr  and  Harman  Blennerhassett,  for 
preparing  and  providing  the  means  for  a  military  expedi 
tion  against  the  territories  of  a  foreign  prince,  with  whom 
the  United  States  were  at  peace." 

There  was  not  a  vestige  of  doubt  in  Marshall's 
mind  as  to  the  nature  of  the  conspiracy.  If  treason  had 
been  contemplated,  Burr  and  Blennerhassett  had  kept 
I  their  secret  well ;  as  for  the  hardy,  adventurous  follow 
ers  of  the  revolutionist,  the  conquest,  of  Mexico  alone 
had  lured  them  on.  As  Cortez  with  a  handful  of  war- 


THE  TRIAL  AT  RICHMOND       361 

riors  had  brought  the  empire  of  the  Aztecs  to  an  end, 
so  again,  they  thought,  might  that  fabled  land  feel  the 
tramp  of  armies  and  witness  the  expiring  throes  of 
another  empire  far  more  deserving  of  extinction  than 
the  first. 

There  seems  to  be  not  the  slightest  doubt  that 
Aaron  Burr  and  his  followers  were  all  guilty  of  high 
misdemeanor — that  alone.  Such  an  opinion  has  every 
thing  to  sustain  it.  That  they  escaped  punishment  in 
the  end  was  due  to  a  slight  reaction  in  their  favor  and 
to  the  fact  that  society  was  palled  with  the  subject  of 
the  conspiracy,  while  ever  more  persistent  became  the 
encroachments  of  the  European  powers.  When  the 
circuit  court  of  Ohio  convened  at  Chillicothe,  January 
4,  1808,  neither  Burr  nor  Blennerhassett — both  under 
bond — appeared.  Once  more  indictments  were  re 
turned  ;  but  with  that  the  prosecutions  of  the  filibusters 
were  ended.  However,  the  American  nation  had  tried 
the  case  and,  on  the  testimony  of  Jefferson,  Eaton,  and  \ 
Wilkinson,  had  passed  judgment,  not  without  dissent  ), 
it  is  true,  but  the  verdict  of  treason  was  irrevocable.  \ 
Henceforth,  vituperation  and  persecution  were  to  be 
meted  out  with  a  lavishness  commensurate  with  the 
enormity  of  the  crime.  Although  Jefferson  was  loath 
to  abandon  the  prosecution,  he  realized  the  futility  of 
his  efforts  to  bring  about  a  conviction,  and  so  he  let 
the  matter  rest.  His  hands  were  in  truth  full  of  much 
weightier  affairs.  War  threatened  with  both  England 
and  Spain;  a  dangerous  sflnsm  was  impending  in  the 
Republican  party;  while  the  Quids  under  John  Ran 
dolph  were  in  hot  pursuit  of  the  hero  of  the  Sabine 


362  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

whom  they  recognized  betimes  in  the  attire  of  the 
President.  It  was  not  difficult,  therefore,  to  bury  the 
chagrin  of  defeat  under  such  momentous  matters;  and 
Jefferson  like  the  mass  of  the  people  of  the  country  for 
got  the  prostrate  conspiracy  while  arming  to  avenge 
such  outrages  as  the  Leopard  inflicted  on  the  Chesa 
peake,  and  as  the  Spaniards  perpetrated  on  our  com 
merce  and  on  our  frontiers.  Paradoxical  as  it  must 
have  seemed  to  those  who  believed  in  the  treason  of 
Burr's  enterprise,  the  most  violent  denunciators  of  the 
insolent  nations,  the  first  to  arm  and  demand  retali 
ation  were  the  adherents  of  that  most  unfortunate  man, 
Aaron  Burr,  whose  career  was  yet  to  prove  that  his 
heart  was  in  the  cause  of  the  liberation  of  the  Spanish 
colonies. 


CHAPTER     XIII. 

The  Last  Years. 


THE  history  of  the  Conspiracy  would  be  incom 
plete  without  some  further  notice  of  Aaron 
Burr,  without  a  later  glimpse  of  the  West.  To 
have  escaped  the  toils  of  the  court  in  no  wise  cleared 
him  of  guilt  in  the  eyes  of  the  people  who  had  heeded 
but  one  charge — treason.  The  disastrous  outcome  of 
his  plans,  however,  failed  to  dampen  his  ardor,  and 
before  the  weary  trial  was  over  Burr  had  in  view 
measures  for  their  rehabilitation.  He  would  set  off 
for  England  as  soon  as  liberated  from  court  "to  collect 
money  for  reorganizing  his  projects."1 

"I  visited  Burr  this  morning,"  wrote  Blennerhassett, 
September  I3th,  in  his  prison  at  Richmond;  "he  is  as  gay 
as  usual,  and  as  busy  in  speculations  on  reorganizing  his 
projects  for  action  as  if  he  had  never  suffered  the  least 
interruption.  He  observed  to  Major  Smith  and  me,  that  P 
in  six  months  our  schemes  could  be  all  remounted."2 

When  Burr  sailed  incognito  for  England  two  things 
were  uppermost  in  his  mind— relief  from  persecution 
and  aid  for  his  designs.  Unfortunately,  upon  his  land 
ing  in  Great  Britain,  the  war  with  Spain  had  resolved 
itself  into  friendship,  and  all  idea  of  freeing  the  Span 
ish  colonies  was  swallowed  up  in  the  enthusiasm  with 
which  the  English  nation  applauded  the  uprising  of 
Spain  against  Napoleon.  Burr  fell  at  once  under  the 

*Blennerhassett  Papers,  p.  414. 

*Blennerhassett  Papers,  p.  452- 

363 


364  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

suspicion  of  the  Government,  and  tried  in  vain  to  get 
propositions  before  the  Ministry.  His  hopes  were 
finally  dissipated  by  the  receipt  of  a  letter  from  An 
thony  Merry,  who  had  again  come  upon  the  scene  of 
his  intrigues.  November  6,  1808,  was  the  date  of  the 
note  :'— 

"Although  I  could  not  see  Mr.  Canning  yesterday,  from 
his  being  gone  into  the  country,  to  stay  till  Tuesday  morn 
ing,  for  the  recovery  of  his  health,  I  conversed  with  an 
other  person  of  nearly  equal  authority,  who  told  me  he 
was  sure  that  what  you  proposed  to  me  yesterday  could 
never  be  consented  to,  pointing  it  out  in  every  way  to  be 
impracticable." 

What  Burr's  propositions  were  we  shall  most  likely 
never  know.     Davis,  the  biographer,  says  that  Burr 
i  thought  "the  political  situation  of  Europe  offered  op- 
/  portunities  for  accomplishing  the  object  he  had  long 
contemplated,  of  emancipating  the  Spanish-American  , 
colonies  from  the  degrading  tyranny  of  Spain."  2 

Being  expelled  .from  England,  Burr  crossed  to  the 
Continent  in  the  hope  that  he  might  fall  in  with  some 
of  Napoleon's  plans  for  the  disposition  of  the  Spanish 
colonial  possessions.  In  a  memorial  to  Bonaparte  he 
set  forth  the  views  which  had  brought  him  to 
France  :3 — 

"While  in  Germany  last  winter  I  saw  in  the  Moniteur 
an  expression  of  your  Majesty's  assent  to  the  independ 
ence  of  the  Spanish-American  colonies.  Believing  that  I 
could  be  useful  in  the  execution  of  that  object,  I  hastened 
to  Frankfort,  and  there  addressed  myself  to  your 
Majesty's  minister,  Monsieur  Hedouville,  who,  at  my  re- 

*Memoirs  of  Burr,  ii.,  413. 
'Memoirs  of  Burr,  ii.,  412. 
^Memoirs  of  Burr,  ii.,  419. 


THE  LAST  YEARS  365 

quest,  wrote  to  the  Minister  of  Exterior  Relations,  stating 
my  views,  and  asking  a  passport  if  those  views  should  be 
deemed  worthy  of  your  Majesty's  attention.  A  passport 
was  transmitted  to  me.  On  the  day  of  my  arrival  in 
Paris  I  announced  myself  to  the  Due  de  Cadore,  and  on 
the  day  following  had  an  audience,  in  which  I  explained, 
as  fully  as  the  time  would  admit,  the  nature  of  my  pro 
jects  and  the  means  of  execution." 

However,   before  Burr  had   reached  the  soil  of 
France  he  was  looked  upon  with  suspicion.    This  was 
occasioned  in  part  by  the  action  of  Jonathan  Russell, 
charge  d'affaires  of  the  United  States  at  Paris,  and 
McRae,  the  consul.     Even  had  this  not  been  the  case 
he  must  have  failed;  Napoleon's  inclination  or  desire 
could  not  have  been  carried  out  had  he  so  chosen;  the 
political  status  put  an  expedition  to  the  Spanish  Amer 
icas  out  of  the  question.     After  repeated  insults  Burr 
saw  the  futility  of  hoping  to  gain  the  ear  of  the  arbiter  \ 
of  Europe,  and  at  last  disheartened  he  planned  for  his  ! 
return;  but  even  a  passport  was  denied  him.    Suffering  " 
great  privations,  he  plead  in  vain  for  the  intercession 
of  our  representatives,  Russell  and  McRae,  who  scorned 
him  as  a  criminal. 

At  the  end  of  four  years,  having  endured  humilia-  ps 
tions  and  persecutions  enough  to  have  broken  the  spirit 
of  any  man,  Aaron  Burr  returned  to  the  United  States. 
He  had  accomplished  nothing,  but  already  for  two 
years  the  war  he  had  hoped  to  lead  had  been  raging  in 
the  Spanish  colonies. 

If  we  return  now  to  the  West,  we  shall  discover  that 
the  passing  of  Aaron  Burr  had  not  materially  affected 
the  condition  of  affairs.  Patriotism  and  honesty  were 


366  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

no  longer  disputed  characteristics  of  the  frontiersmen ; 
nor  was  their  malignant  hatred  of  Spain  doubted. 
Moreover,  the  same  adventurous  spirit  that  Burr  had 
enlisted  survived  and  was  to  manifest  itself  for  suc 
ceeding  decades  in  filibustering  enterprises,  moving 
ever  westward — tidal  waves  of  society  beating  down 
the  barriers  of  an  opposing  civilization.  By  the  sum 
mer  of  1808  the  Neutral  Ground  was  filled  with  adven 
turers,  who  crossed  the  Sabine,  bartered  with  the  na 
tives,  caught  wild  horses,  and  gave  Nemecio  de  Salcedo 
no  end  of  trouble.  They  were  recognized  as  Burr's 
legitimate  successors.  June  22,  1808,  Louis  de  Clovet, 
consul  for  Spain  in  New  Orleans,  wrote  Salcedo, 
"From  what  I  can  hear  and  penetrate  it  seems  that 
the  project  of  Burr  is  coming  to  life."1  And  Manuel 
de  Salcedo,  Governor  of  Texas,  after  a  visit  to  Natchez, 
reported  : 

"The  partisans  of  Colonel  Burr  insist  on  their  designs 
against  the  Internal  Provinces  of  Mexico.  .  .  .  They 
are  to  float  down  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  in  flatboats — 
some  will  ascend  the  Arkansas  and  move  on  New  Mexico ; 
others  will  cross  Texas.  .  .  .  Some  of  them  are 
actually  on  the  Washita  lands,  while  there  are  many  in 
Natchez  who  entertain  suspicious  projects."1 

A  few  days  later  Captain-General  Salcedo  confessed 
to  the  Viceroy  that  he  feared  for  his  provinces  because 
of  the  restless,  grasping,  envious  disposition  of  the 
Anglo-Americans.3  At  the  same  time,  too,  it  is  curious 

'Clovet  to  Salcedo,  June  22,  1808;  MSS.  Mexican  Archives. 

'Manuel  de  Salcedo  to  Nemecio  de  Salcedo,  September  12, 
1808;  MSS.  Mexican  Archives. 

'Salcedo  to  Iturrigaray,  September  28,  1808;  MSS.  Mexican 
Archives. 


THE  LAST  YEARS  367 

to  note  that  General  Wilkinson  was  jubilant  over  the 
prospect  of  the  rebellion  of  the  Spanish  colonies.  Octo 
ber  i,  1808,  he  sent  to  Jefferson  the  following:1 — 

"The  scenes  which  are  now  passing  before  us  in  rapid 
succession  inspire  the  liveliest  hopes  that  the  emancipation 
of  Mexico  and  South  America  is  not  distant;  and  they 
excite  in  my  breast  the  strongest  solicitude  to  participate 
in  the  glorious  achievement  in  which  the  United  States 
and  all  Spanish-America  appear  to  be  mutually  and  pro 
foundly  interested." 

It  is  a  matter  of  no  little  moment  to  find  that  revolu 
tions  broke  out  in  West  Florida,  Mexico,  Granada,  and 
Caracas  during  the  month  of  September,  1810.    The 
Governor  of  Texas  wrote  to  the  Viceroy2  that  they 
had  the  same  origin  and  the  same  end;  and  with  re 
gard  to  the  rebellion  in  Baton  Rouge,  he  remarked     ^ 
that  it  had  its  extension  throughout  Louisiana,  and/ 
that  it  was  not  a  combination  of  a  day,  but  that  it  had!  ^f 
been  urged  since  the  beginning  of  the  Conspiracy  ofj^ 
Aaron  Burr.3 

It  would  be  fruitless  to  continue  the  narrative  to 
show  how  full  the  "stream  of  tendency"  ran  during  the 
next  half  century.  It  is  quite  sufficient  that  we  should 
realize  that  the.  elements  of  revolution  in  the  West 
were  imbedded  in  the  Western  character,  and  were  im 
pregnated  with  a  vitality  generations  could  not  exhaust. 

Burr's  determination  to  have  a  hand  in  the  settle 
ment  of  affairs  in  Spanish  America  was  long  in  being 

Wilkinson  to  Jefferson,  October  I,  1808;  Jefferson  MSS. 
2Operaciones  de  Guerra;  MSS.  Mexican  Archives. 
'Manuel  de  Salcedo  to  Viceroy  Venegas,  November  21,  1810; 
MSS.  Mexican  Archives. 


368  THE  AARON  BURR  CONSPIRACY 

resigned.  Neither  the  venomous  persecutions  he  had 
experienced  in  his  own  country,  nor  the  desperate  buf 
feting  to  which  he  was  subjected  in  Europe,  had  mod 
erated  his  enthusiasm.  At  the  moment  of  departing 
from  England  he  wrote  Jeremy  Bentham — who  had 
proved  so  dear  a  friend  to  him  and  who  had  endeavored 
to  reconcile  him  to  Miranda — concerning  the  South 
American  patriot  i1  — 

"There  is  a  possibility,  perhaps  something  more,  that 
I  may  mingle,  personally,  in  the  affairs  of  Spanish  Amer 
ica.  In  such  a  case,  a  good  understanding  would  be  of 
sound  policy,  perhaps  of  mutual  necessity.  It  is  also 
probable  that  I  may  be  capable  of  rendering  him  [Mi 
randa]  or  his  countrymen  service  in  the  United  States, 
whither  I  am  now  about  to  return,  and  certainly  I  should 
do  it  with  pleasure  and  with  zeal." 

Almost  the  first  news  he  had  upon  landing  in  New 
York  was  that  his  only  grandchild,  Aaron  Burr  Alston, 
was  dead.  This  blighting  intelligence  was  soon  after 
ward  eclipsed  by  the  loss  of  Theodosia.  who,  sailing 
from  Charleston  to  meet  her  father  in  New  York,  was 
never  heard  from  again.  Burr's  life  was  thenceforward 
a  hopeless  blank.  The  only  subject  which  aroused  his 
enthusiasm  was  the  emancipation  of  the  Spanish  col 
onies.  He  encouraged  those  who  were  struggling  for 
the  consummation  of  such  hopes,  and  in  the  end  be 
came  known  to  the  leaders  of  the  revolt.  In  1816  Jose 
Alvarez  de  Toledo,  one  of  the  distinguished  soldiers  of 
Mexico,  wrote:  "Although  I  have  not  the  honor  of 
knowing  you  personally,  the  reputation  of  your  talents 
and  good  wishes  for  the  cause  of  America  have  made 
^Private  Journal  of  Aaron  Burr,  ii.,  255. 


THE  LAST  YEARS  369 

your  name  familiar  among  us."  *  Then  Burr  was  in 
vited  to  assume  the  "management"  of  the  "political  and 
military  affairs"  of  Mexico.  But  already  the  weight 
of  years  and  the  burden  of  sorrow  which  bore  upon 
him  were  bowing  him  to  the  earth — the  invitation 
could  only  be  declined.  Some  years  later  when  the 
Texans  began  their  struggle  for  independence  Burr 
manifested  an  intense  interest  in  the  result.  One  day, 
upon  reading  some  account  from  that  quarter,  he  ex 
claimed,  "There!  you  see?  I  was  right!  I  was  only 
thirty  years  too  soon.  What  was  treason  in  me  thirty' 
years  ago,  is  patriotism  now  !"2 

In  the  early  part  of  June,  1836,  it  was  thought  Burr 
was  dying,  and  the  question  was  asked  him,  "Whether 
in  the  expedition  to  the  Southwest  he  had  designed  a 
separation  of  the  Union."  The  reply  was,  "No;  I 
would  as  soon  have  thought  of  taking  possession  of 
the  moon,  and  informing  my  friends  that  I  intended 
to  divide  it  among  them."3 

September  14,  1836,  Aaron  Burr  ceased  to  live,  and         £ 
a  few  days  later  all  that  was  mortal  of  him  was  con 
signed  to  a  grave  near  his  father's  resting  place  in  the 
beautiful  cemetery  at  Princeton — his  life  and  career 
were  merged  in  the  stream  of  history. 

lMemoirs  of  Burr,  ii.,  442. 
2Parton's  Burr,  ii.,  319. 
'Parton's  Burr,  ii.,  327. 


Index 


ADAIR,  JOHN:  relations  with 
Wilkinson,  127-129;  indict 
ment  against,  187-188;  arrest 
ed  by  Wilkinson,  223;  re 
leased  at  Baltimore,  299; 
brings  suit  against  Wilkin 
son  for  false  imprisonment, 
300;  Wilkinson's  opinion  of, 
308. 

ALSTON,  JOSEPH:  in  the  West 
with  Burr,  83;  at  Richmond, 

319. 

ALSTON,  THEODOSIA  BURR:  ac 
companies  Burr  in  second 
Western  journey,  76;  present 
at  Richmond  trial,  319. 

BENTHAM,  JEREMY  :  connection 
with  Burr  and  Miranda,  368. 

BLENNERHASSETT,  HARM  AN  : 
who  he  was,  25;  relates 
Burr's  plans  to  Graham,  242- 
243;  examined  before  Toul- 
min,  282;  indicted  at  Rich 
mond,  332. 

BLENNERHASSETT'S  ISLAND:  its 
situation,  25;  Burr's  second 
arrival  at,  79;  becomes  a  ren 
dezvous,  79;  threatened  by 
militia,  87;  abandoned  by  the 
conspirators,  247;  raided  by 
militia,  247-248. 

BASTROP  LANDS:  purchased  by 
Burr,  83. 

BOLLMAN,  ERICK:  arrested  by 
Wilkinson,  215-216;  released 
at  Washington,  298;  confi 
dence  violated  by  Jefferson, 

339- 
BOTTS,      BENJAMIN  :      defends 

Burr  at  Richmond  trial,  320; 

interpretation  of  treason,  323. 
BRADFORD,  EDITOR:  arrested  by 


Wilkinson,  222;  view  of  the 
Spanish  situation,  125-126. 

BROOM,  CONGRESSMAN  :  intro 
duces  in  the  House  resolu 
tion  concerning  the  habeas 
corpus,  296. 

BRUIN,  JUDGE:  presides  over 
Burr's  Mississippi  trial,  271. 

BURLING,  WALTER:  relations 
with  Wilkinson,  62-63;  goes 
to  Mexico,  164-169. 

BLTRR,  AARON  :  ancestry  and 
early  life,  16;  entry  into 
politics,  17;  duel  with  Ham 
ilton,  18;  contest  with  Jeffer 
son  for  Presidency,  18;  in 
trigues  with  Merry,  20-23, 
42-48,  69-70;  first  entry  into 
the  West,  24;  at  Blennerhas- 
sett's  Island,  25;  entertained 
by  Andrew  Jackson,  26;  con 
fers  with  Wilkinson  at  Fort 
Massac,  26;  at  New  Orleans, 
28-31;  public  reception  at 
Nashville,  33;  confers  with 
Wilkinson  at  St.  Louis,  34; 
plans  of,  41 ;  discusses  enter 
prise  with  Blennerhassett, 
49;  intrigue  with  Yrujo,  54; 
intrigue  with  Yrujo,  54-60, 
65-69;  letter  to  Wilkinson 
concerning  conspiracy,  61 ; 
dealings  with  Truxton  and 
Eaton,  62;  collects  funds 
from  individuals,  71;  impor 
tant  letter  to  Wilkinson,  74;  - 
second  entry  into  the  West, 
76;  conversation  with  the 
Morgans,  76-78;  second  ar 
rival  at  Blennerhassett  Isl 
and,  78;  purchases  Bastrop 
lands,  83;  enlists  recruits,  84; 
his  three  maps,  85;  letter  to 


372 


INDEX 


Gov.  Harrison  concerning 
Spanish  war,  87;  trials  in 
Kentucky,  178-179;  188-192; 
letter  regarding  his  project, 
to  Smith,  183;  to  Gov.  Har 
rison,  184;  to  Henry  Clay, 
185;  second  trial  at  Frank 
fort,  188-192;  revisits  An 
drew  Jackson,  252;  with  the 
Ohio  flotilla,  256-257;  en 
ters  the  Mississippi,  261-262; 
reception  in  Mississippi  ter 
ritory,  262-263;  his  knowl 
edge  of  Wilkinson's  move 
ments,  266;  surrenders  to 
Meade,  268;  interview  with 
Graham  concerning  conspir 
acy,  270;  consultations  with 
Colonel  Osmun  and  Major 
Guion,  271 ;  before  grand 
jury  at  Washington,  Miss., 
272-273;  no  indictment  found 
against,  274;  goes  into  hid 
ing,  275;  replies  to  William's 
proclamation,  276;  visits  his 
flotilla,  277;  takes  flight,  277; 
captured  near  Fort  Stoddert, 
279;  feeling  in  regard  to, 
279-280;  conducted  to  Rich 
mond.  310;  examined  before 
Marshall,  310-311;  final  trial 
at  Richmond,  320-357;  visits 
England,  363-364;  in  France, 
364-365;  writes  to  Bentham 
concerning  Miranda,  368;  in 
terest  in  emancipation  of 
Spanish  colonies,  368;  inter 
est  in  Texas  struggle,  369; 
statement  concerning  con 
spiracy,  369;  death,  369. 

CASA  CALVO:  expelled  from 
New  Orleans,  109. 

CEVALLOS  :  hears  through  Yrujo 
of  Burr's  plot,  55,  57-60;  re 
fuses  to  contribute  funds  to 
Burr,  68;  anticipates  war 
with  the  United  States,  105. 

CLAIBORNE,  W.  C.  C. :  protests 
against  Spanish  advance,  118; 
suspects  Wilkinson,  118; 


plans  with  Wilkinson  for 
war,  123-124;  warns  Meade 
of  conspiracy,  204;  refuses  to 
proclaim  martial  law,  207- 
208;  addresses  New  Orleans 
Chamber  of  Commerce  on 
subject  of  conspiracy,  208; 
issues  proclamation  against 
conspiracy,  216,  250;  passivity 
in  regard  to  military  arrests, 
220-221;  recommends  suspen 
sion  of  habeas  corpus  to  Leg 
islature,  233 ;  urges  Meade  to 
arrest  Burr,  264;  attitude 
towards  Wilkinson,  307-308; 
opinion  of  Watkins,  308; 
opinion  of  Adair,  308. 

CLARK,  DANIEL:  attitude  to 
wards  Burr,  31-32;  writes  to 
Wilkinson  of  Burr's  conspir 
acy,  32;  loyalty  of,  228-229. 

CLAY,  HENRY:  defends  Burr, 
185;  attitude  towards  Burr, 
185-186,  193. 

CONGRESS  OF  UNITED  STATES: 
measures  for  suppressing 
conspiracy,  295-296. 

CONSPIRACY:  Clark's  view  of, 
32;  rumors  as  to  nature  of, 
36-38;  Burr's  communica 
tions  concerning  the,  49,  61, 
63,  75,  183-185,  270,  369;  ru 
mors  as  to  nature  of,  80; 
Grand  Pre's  view  of,  96; 
Folch's  view  of,  97-98,  263- 
264;  James  Taylor's  view  of, 
99,  344;  Daviess's  view  of, 
99-100;  Jefferson's  view  of, 
100-104;  Duane's  view  of, 
194;  Rodney's  view  of,  194; 
Jefferson's  view  of,  194- 
195,  285,  286,  288,  290, 
294,  316,  317;  Claiborne's 
view  of,  201-202,  203-204, 
233;  Jackson's  view  of,  203; 
Meade's  view  of,  204 ;  Jack 
son's  view  of,  260-261 ;  Burr's 
communications  to  Meade 
concerning  the,  262;  Ran 
dolph's  view  of  the,  292 ; 
Erskine's  view  of,  292-293; 


INDEX 


373 


Wilkinson's  view  of,  303- 
304;  Eaton's  testimony  as  to 
the  nature  of,  341 ;  Trux- 
ton's  testimony  as  to  the  na 
ture  of,  343;  the  Morgans' 
testimony  as  to  the  nature 
of,  344;  Woodbridge's  testi 
mony  as  to  the  nature  of, 
345;*Allbright's  testimony  as 
to  the  nature  of,  345 ;  Marsh 
all's  opinion  concerning  the, 
358-300. 

CORDERO,  ANTONIO:  hears  of 
Burr's  enterprise,  63;  refuses 
to  withdraw  troops  from  dis 
puted  tract,  134. 

CREOLES  :  their  attitude  towards 
the  Union,  112.  See  also 
under  LOUISIANIANS. 

DAVIESS,  JOSEPH  HAMILTON  : 
prosecution  of  Burr,  176-178; 
renews  prosecution  of  Burr, 
185. 

DAYTON,  JONATHAN:  his  story 
to  Yrujo  of  plot,  55-57,  67- 
68;  alarms  Wilkinson,  73; 
indicted  at  Richmond,  332. 

DEARBORN,  HENRY  :  receives  in 
structions  from  Jefferson, 
120;  offends  Jackson,  258. 

DE  PESTRE,  COL.:  goes  with 
Burr  into  the  West,  76;  re 
turns  to  blind  Yrujo,  93-96; 
his  attempted  bribery,  338. 

DUNBAUGH,  JACOB  :  character 
of,  257-258. 

EATON,  WILLIAM  :  dealings  with 
Burr  and  the  President,  62; 
testimony  as  to  conspiracy, 
341-342;  his  claim  paid  by 
Congress,  342. 

FEDERALISTS  :  suspected  by  Jef 
ferson  of  connection  with 
conspiracy,  314-315. 

FLORIDA:  bill  for  purchase  of, 

FLOYD,  DAVIS  :  examination  be 
fore  Toulmin,  282;  Harri 
son's  opinion  of,  282. 

FOLCH,  VINCENTE:  stops  pas 
sage  of  United  States  mail 


through  West  Florida,  no; 
reenforces  Grand  Pre,  263. 

GAINES,  LIEUTENANT:  captures 
Burr  near  Fort  Stoddert,  279. 

GALLATIN,  ALBERT  :  recom 
mends  compensation  for 
seizures,  300-301. 

GENET,  EDMOND  CHARLES  : 
projects  of,  5. 

GRAHAM,  JOHN  :  investigates 
conspiracy,  242-249;  hears  of 
Burr's  plans  from  Blenner- 
hassett,  242-243 ;  interviews 
Burr  at  Natchez^  269-270; 
view  of  conspiracy,  280. 

GRAND  PRE  :  prepares  to  resist 
Burr's  expedition,  263. 

GRIFFIN,  CYRUS:  presides  at 
trial  at  Richmond,  320. 

GUION,  MAJOR  ISAAC:  Burr's 
consultations  with,  271. 

GUTIERREZ -MAGEE  EXPEDITION  : 
its  nature,  86-87. 

HAY,  GEORGE:  at  Burr's  exam 
ination  before  Marshall,  310; 
represents  prosecution  .  at 
Richmond  trial,  321;  inter 
pretation  of  treason,  347; 
threatens  impeachment  of 
Marshall,  348-349;  loses  faith 
in  Wilkinson,  354. 

HERRERA,  SIMON  DE:  crosses 
the  Sabine,  116;  retreats  to 
the  west  bank  of  the  Sabine, 
134 ;  accepts  Wilkinson's 
propositions  establishing  a 
neutral  ground,  150;  receives 
letters  regarding  the  con 
spiracy,  159-160. 

INNES,  HARRY  :  presides  over 
trials  of  Burr,  178-186. 

IRVING,  WASHINGTON:  descrip 
tion  of  Wilkinson  at  trial, 
330. 

ITURRIGARAY,  JOSE  DE:  views 
with  alarm  the  situation  on 
the  Sabine,  109;  warned  of 
Burr's  conspiracy,  168-169. 

JACKSON,  ANDREW  :  entertains 
Burr,  26;  issues  proclamation 
for  Spanish  war,  81;  offers 


374 


INDEX 


services  to  President,  82; 
connection  with  conspiracy, 
252-255 ;  Jefferson  declares 
confidence  in,  258;  offended 
by  Dearborn,  258;  mobilizes 
militia,  259;  disbands  militia, 
260. 

JEFFERSON,  THOMAS  :  attitude 
towards  Spain,  51,  82,  154- 
155;  takes  action  in  regard  to 
Burr's  conspiracy,  195-196; 
issues  proclamation,  197-198; 
approves  Wilkinson's  meas 
ures  at  New  Orleans,  223- 
225;  declares  faith  in  Jack 
son,  258;  refers  to  Burr's 
project  in  annual  message  to 
Congress,  285;  reports  to 
Congress  concerning  conspir 
acy,  293,  294,  295,  300;  de 
livers  military  prisoners  to 
civil  authorities,  298;  attitude 
towards  Burr,  309;  resents 
Marshall's  decision,  312-313; 
efforts  to  secure  Burr's  con 
viction,  314;  suspects  Feder 
alists  of  sympathy  with  Burr, 
314-316;  withholds  papers 
from  Burr's  trial,  324,  326- 
328;  espouses  Wilkinson's 
cause,  331-332;  angered  at 
Burr's  acquittal,  352-353,  357- 

KENTUCKY,  LEGISLATURE  OF  : 
passes  act  for  suppression  of 
conspiracy,  250;  declaration 
of  loyalty,  250. 

KERR,  Louis :  trial  and  ac 
quittal  at  Natchez,  Miss.,  283. 

LEE,  CHARLES  :  defends  Burr  at 
Richmond  trial,  320. 

LEWIS  and  CLARK:  celebration 
in  their  honor,  113. 

LOUISIANA:  Purchase  of,  10; 
legislature  of,  pledges  loyal 
ty  to  Government  (234),  de 
clares  loyalty  of  Louisian- 
ians  (234),  discusses  Wilkin 
son's  measures  (235),  and 
condemns  suspension  of  ha 
beas  corpus,  235-236. 

LOUSIANIANS:   loyalty  of,   127, 


225;  Wilkinson's  opinion  of, 
225-226;  attitude  towards 
conspiracy,  237-238;  Clair- 
borne's  opinion  of  their  loy 
alty,  238-239;  Jefferson's  esti 
mate,  286. 

McRAE,  ALEXANDER  :  represents 
prosecution  at  Richmond  trial, 
321. 

MAPS  :  Burr's,  85. 

MARSHALL,  JOHN:  presides  at 
Burr's  examination  at  Rich 
mond,  310;  his  opinion,  310; 
presides  over  trial  at  Rich 
mond,  320;  his  reply  to  Hay's 
threats,  349;  his  great  opinion 
on  the  treason  case,  350. 

MARTIN,  LUTHER  :  defends 
Burr  at  Richmond  trial,  320; 
his  great  speech  on  the  na 
ture  of  treason,  347. 

MEADE,  COWLES  :  warned  by 
Claiborne  of  conspiracy,  204; 
warns  Claiborne  against  Wil 
kinson,  226;  issues  proclama 
tion  against  conspiracy,  251; 
prepares  for  seizure  of  Burr, 
265-266;  his  description  of 
Burr's  expedition,  268-269. 

MERRY,  ANTHONY  :  intrigue 
with  Burr,  20-23;  42-48;  69- 
70;  on  Burr's  enterprise,  38. 

MEXICAN  ASSOCIATION  :  organ 
ization  and  purpose,  29-30, 

113- 

MIRANDA:  his  expedition,  114- 
179;  sympathy  of  Westerners 
for,  114-115;  Jefferson's  at 
titude  towards,  317;  connec 
tion  with  Burr  and  Bentham, 
368. 

MISSISSIPPIANS  :  loyalty  of, 
251;  Jefferson's  estimate  of, 
286. 

MORALES,  JUAN  VENTURA  : 
fears  revolution,  64;  expelled 
from  New  Orleans,  109. 

MORGAN,  GEORGE:  Burr's  talk 
with,  76-78. 

MORGANS:  their  testimony  at 
trial,  344. 


INDEX 


375, 


MUSKINGUM  FLOTILLA  :  its 
seizure,  244-246. 

NAPOLEON:  plans  of,  14. 

NEUTRAL  GROUND  TREATY:  its 
terms,  150-152;  reception  of 
by  Spanish  Government,  156; 
effects  of,  156-157. 

NEW  ORLEANS:  right  of  de 
posit,  8;  Burr's  visit  to,  28- 
31;  Chamber  of  Commerce 
addressed  by  Claiborne  and 
Wilkinson  on  subject  of  con 
spiracy,  208-210;  Chamber  of 
Commerce  takes  measures  of 
defence,  210;  stringent  ordi 
nance  of  City  Council,  230- 
231. 

OGDEN,  PETER  V. :  bears  Day 
ton's  letter  to  Wilkinson,  73; 
arrested  by  Wilkinson,  215- 
216;  discharged  on  writ  of 
habeas  corpus,  216;  re-ar 
rested  by  Wilkinson,  218- 
219;  released  at  Baltimore, 
299. 

OHIO  LEGISLATURE:  addressed 
by  Governor  Edward  Tiffin 
on  subject  of  conspiracy,  244- 
245;  passes  act  for  suppres 
sion  of  conspiracy,  245. 

OHIO  FLOTILLA:  escape  of,  247. 

OSMUN,  BENIJAH  :  surety  for 
Burr,  268;  Burr's  consulta 
tions  with,  271. 

PERKINS,  NICHOLAS  :  informs 
of  Burr's  flight,  278-279; 
takes  Burr  to  Richmond,  310. 

PESTRE,  DE  COL:  accompanies 
Burr,  76;  serves  in  Burr's  in 
trigue  with  Yrujo,  90,  93,  94- 

95- 

POINDEXTER,  GEORGE:  arranges 
for  interview  of  Burr  with 
Meade,  267;  moves  that 
grand  jury  at  Washington, 
Miss.,  be  discharged,  272. 

PROCLAMATION:  President  Jef 
ferson's,  regarding  conspi 
racy,  197-198;  Erskine's  opin 


ion  of,  198-199;  Lexington 
Gazette's  view  of,  199. 

RANDOLPH,  EDMUND:  defends 
Burr  at  Richmond  trial,  320. 

RANDOLPH,  JOHN  :  questions 
President  concerning  con 
spiracy,  291-292;  attacks  de 
nial  of  habeas  corpus,  296- 
297;  foreman  of  jury  at  Rich 
mond  trial,  322;  description 
of  Wilkinson's  appearance  at 
trial,  332;  opinion  of  Wilkin 
son,  333;  attacks  Wilkinson 
in  Congress,  334-335. 

RODNEY,  JUDGE:  refuses  to  re 
lease  Burr,  274. 

SABINE:  Spanish  troops  cross 
the,  1 1 6. 

SALCEDO,  NEMECIO:  jealousy  of 
Americans,  13;  hears  of 
Burr's  enterprise,  63;  com 
plains  of  encroachments  of 
United  States,  108. 

SHIELDS,  W.  B. :  arranges  for 
interview  of  Burr  with 
Meade,  267. 

SPAIN  :  threat  of  war  with 
United  States,  50-53;  pre 
pares  for  war,  106;  Jeffer 
son's  attitude  towards,  316. 

SPANISH  ASSOCIATION  :  its  orig 
inal  purpose,  4;  confounded 
with  Burr's  enterprise,  181, 
190,  292-293. 

SPANISH  COLONIES  :  attitude  to 
wards  their  Government,  90; 
corruption  in  administration 
of,  131-132;  Wilkinson's  de 
sire  to  revolutionize,  305- 
306;  connection  with  conspi 
racy,  306;  interest  of  Burr  in 
their  emancipation,  368;  re 
volt  of,  367. 

SMITH,  ROBERT  :  naval  prepara 
tions  against  conspiracy,  287. 

SWARTWOUT,  SAMUEL  :  bears 
Burr's  letter  to  Wilkinson, 
73;  arrested  by  Wilkinson, 
215-216;  released  at  Wash 
ington,  298. 

TAYLOR,  PETER:  story  concern- 


INDEX 


ing  conspiracy,  89;  testimony 
at  trial,  344. 

TENNESSEEANS  :  loyalty  of,  251- 
252. 

TIFFIN,  EDWARD  :  addresses 
Ohio  Legislature  on  subject 
of  conspiracy,  244-245;  gives 
orders  for  suppression  of 
conspiracy,  245. 

TOLEDO,  JOSE  ALVAREZ  DE:  let 
ter  to  Burr,  368-369. 

TOULMIN,  HARRY  :  examines 
Burr's  associates,  282. 

TREASON  :  Bott's  view  of  its 
nature,  323;  Hay's,  347; 
Marshall's  dictum  concern 
ing,  350-35L 

TRIAL  AT  RICHMOND:  Burr  ad 
mitted  to  bail,  310-311;  per 
sons  present  at,  318-319;  the 
judges  and  attorneys,  320- 
321;  the  jurors,  322;  char 
acter  of  evidence,  322-323; 
demand  of  papers  from  Jef 
ferson,  324-328;  Wilkinson's 
arrival,  329;  Burr  indicted 
for  misdemeanor  and  trea 
son,  332;  Burr's  associates 
indicted,  333;  contention  con 
cerning  treason,  347-348;  Burr 
acquitted  of  treason,  350; 
misdemeanor  case,  356;  ques 
tion  as  to  .  testimony,  357; 
jury  returns  verdict  of  not 
guilty,  357;  testimony  of  the 
prosecution,  359;  Marshall's 
opinion,  359-360. 

TRUXTON,  COMMODORE:  ap 
proached  by  Burr,  62;  testi 
mony  as  to  nature  of  the  con 
spiracy,  343- 

TURNER,  CAPTAIN  :  expels 
Spaniards,  107. 

TURREAU  :  ignored  by  Burr,  66; 
opinion  of  Burr's  enterprise, 
66-67. 

TYLER,  COMFORT:  arrives  at 
Blennerhassett's  Island.  246; 
examined  before  Toulmin, 
282. 


VIANA,  FRANCISCO  :  fears 
American  invasion,  64. 

WATKINS,  JOHN  :  member  of 
Mexican  Association,  29-30; 
denounces  Wilkinson's  meas 
ures,  236-237;  Claiborne's 
opinions  concerning,  308. 

WESTERNERS  :  attitude  toward 
Spain,  15,  41,  365-366;  toasts 
of,  in;  sympathy  for  Miran 
da,  114-115;  attitude  toward 
Burr,  193;  Graham's  esti 
mate  concerning  loyalty  of, 
242;  Wilkinson's  view  of, 
303- 

WICKHAM,  JOHN  :  defends 
Burr  at  Richmond  trial,  320. 

WILKINSON,  GEN.  JAMES  :  ap 
pointed  governor,  24;  confer 
ence  with  Burr  at  Fort  Mas- 
sac,  26;  confers  with  Burr  at 
St.  Louis,  34;  ordered  to  re 
pel  Spanish  invasion.  121;  his 
delay,  121-122;  arrival  an  the 
scene  of  action,  122-125;  fore 
sees  outbreak  of  war  with 
Spain,  129;  letter  to  Smith 
on  prospects  of  war,  130-131; 
seeks  to  conciliate  Spanish 
leaders,  137-138;  receives 
Burr's  letter,  138;  mentions 
Burr's  conspiracy  to  Cush- 
ing,  139;  and  to  Burling, 
140;  delays  marching  to  the 
Sabine,  140;  announces  to  the 
President  Burr's  conspiracy, 
140-141;  discusses  the  con 
spiracy,  141-144;  seeks  to  en 
list  Jefferson,  144-146; 
marches  to  the  Sabine,  150; 
concludes  Neutral  Ground 
Treaty,  149-152;  writes  to 
Gushing  of  the  conspiracy, 
157;  warns  Col.  Freeman, 
158;  warns  Claiborne  of  the 
conspiracy,  161;  writes  to  the 
President  concerning  the 
conspiracy,  162-164;  sends 
Burling  to  Mexico,  164-169; 
urges  Claiborne  to  proclaim 


INDEX 


377 


martial  law,  204-207;  ad 
dresses  New  Orleans  Cham 
ber  of  Commerce  on  subject 
of  conspiracy,  208-210;  rea 
sons  for  silence  regarding 
conspiracy,  211;  writes  to 
Clark  concerning  measures 
of  defence,  212;  urges  Clai- 
borne  to  proclaim  martial 
law,  213;  demands  impress 
ment  of  sailors,  214;  arrests 
Bollman,  Ogden,  and  Swart- 
wout,  215-216;  military  ar 
rests  at  New  Orleans,  214- 
219,  221,  223;  orders  concern 
ing  incoming  vessels,  227- 
228;  issues  order  at  Coffee 
House,  229-230;  proposes  to 
ascend  the  Mississippi,  232- 
233;  methods  of  securing  evi 
dence,  239-240;  urges  Mea^le 
to  arrest  Burr,  264;  jg^Etfrtsto 
capture  Burr,  274-275;  de 
fends  his  position  to  Presi 
dent,  302;  desires  to  revolu 
tionize  Spanish  Colonies, 
305;  attitude  of  Louisianians 
towards,  306;  endeavors  to 
secure  evidence  against  Burr, 
313-314;  arrival  in  Richmond, 
1;  faces  Burr  at  the  trial, 


w3ii 


330;  accused  of  contempt  of 
court,  332;  accused  of  treason 
before  grand  jury,  335;  an 
gered  at  Burr's  acquittal, 
352-357;  Hay's  distrust  of, 
354- 

'ILLIAMS,  ROBERT:  issues 
proclamation  on  Burr's  flight, 
275- 

WIRT,  WILLIAM  :  represents 
prosecution  at  Richmond 
trial,  321. 

WORKMAN,  JAMES:  his  views, 
217;  issues  writ  of  habeas 
corpus  for  Ogden  and  Swart- 
wout,  216;  discharges  Ogden, 
216;  issues  writ  of  habeas 
corpus  for  Alexander,  219; 
appeals  to  Claiborne  against 
Wilkinson,  219-220;  arrested 
]}y  Wilkinson,  222;  trial  and 
acquittal  at  Natchez,  Miss., 
283. 

YRUJO,  CASA,  MARQUIS  OF:  on 
Burr's  intrigue  with  Merry, 
39;  intrigue  with  Burr,  54- 
60,  65-69;  misapprehension  of 
Burr's  conspiracy,  91-93;  un 
deceived  as  to  the  conspiracy, 
94-96. 


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